THE  STRANGE  ATTRACTION 


UNTt.  OF  CAUF.  LIBRARY.  LOS  ANGELES 


BY  THE  SAME  AUTHOR 


THE 

PASSIONATE  PURITAN 

"  The  story  of  a  passionate  love  and  of  the 
warring  between  two  distinct  ideals  of  life. 
It  is  very  well  and  realistically  presented  as  a 
problem." — Boston  Transcript 

THE  STORY  OF  A 
NEW  ZEALAND  RIVER 

"  Jane   Mander   comes   from  New  Zealand 

and   she  writes    about   that    most   interesting 

country  with  the  surety  of  thorough  knowledge 

and  with  the  insight  of  the  born  story-teller." 

— New  York  Times 


THE 
STRANGE  ATTRACTION 


By 
JANE    MANDER 

AUTHOR  OF  "THE    PASSIONATE    PURITAN,"  AND 
"THE  STORY  OF    A   NEW  ZEALAND  RIVER" 


NEW  YOKE 
DODD,  MEAD  AND  COMPANY 

1922 


COPYRIGHT,  1922 
BY  DODD,  MEAD  AND  COMPANY,  INC. 

FEINTED  ITS  U.  S.  A. 


To 

Certain  American  Friends 
Whose  Encouragement  and  Practical  Help 

Made  Possible 
The  Writing  of  This  Story 


2131342 


«« It  is  the  business  of  the  very  few  to  be  independent ; 
it  is  a  privilege  of  the  strong." 

"  Flee,  my  friend,  into  thy  solitude.  I  see  thee  deaf- 
ened with  the  noise  of  the  great  men,  and  itung  all  over 
with  the  stings  of  the  little  ones." 

"  Admirably  do  forest  and  rock  know  how  to  be  silent 
with  thee." — NIETZSCHE 


THE  STRANGE  ATTRACTION 


CHAPTER  I 


DO  hope  you  will  like  it,"  said  Bob  Lorrimer  rather 
doubtfully. 

-*-  "  I  don't  care  a  cuss  if  I  don't.  I  shall  stay  till 
I've  got  all  I  can  out  of  it.  But  I  say,  this  is  hot,  isn't 
it?  "  answered  Valerie  Carr. 

"  Yes,  it's  the  worst  since  I  came.  You  couldn't  see 
much  of  the  river,  I  suppose.  There's  a  big  fire  to  the 
north  of  us." 

"  Not  a  thing,"  she  said  in  a  disgusted  tone. 

They  stood  on  what  was  known  as  the  Dargaville  main 
wharf  beside  the  steamer  that  had  just  brought  Valerie 
from  Helensville.  Passengers  still  moved  cautiously  down 
the  unrailed  gangway  with  packages  and  bags  in  their 
hands,  and  relatives  still  greeted  each  other  with  forced 
gaiety  or  honest  affection,  and  acquaintances  with  laconic 
nods.  The  donkey  engine  swung  the  first  net  full  of  trunks 
and  boxes  in  dangerous  imminence  above  the  heads  of  all 
who  stood  on  the  limited  area  of  the  narrow  landing. 

"  Look  out !  Look  out !  "  impatiently  yelled  one  of  the 
steamer  hands,  annoyed  that  it  should  be  his  job  to  save 
people  who  did  not  seem  to  want  to  live. 

There  was  a  scramble  out  of  the  way.  Bob  and  Valerie 
drew  aside  against  the  wall  of  a  zinc  shed.  She  looked  into 
the  pile  of  luggage  that  was  dumped  at  her  feet,  saw  that 

1 


gj  THE  STRANGE  ATTRACTION 

her  own  belongings  were  not  there,  and  turned  again  to 
Bob. 

"  What  do  you  think  of  it  so  far  ?  "  she  asked. 

"  I  think  the  paper  is  a  promising  thing.  They  will 
turn  it  into  a  daily  next  summer  if  we  make  a  good  start. 
Anyway  it  is  a  stepping-stone,  and  we  can  make  it  pretty 
much  what  we  like  so  long  as  we  boom  the  district  and 
Benton's  candidature.  The  committee's  fine,  and  as  they 
all  have  work  to  do  and  know  nothing  about  running  a 
paper  they  will  not  be  fussing  about  the  office  all  the 
time." 

"And  the  place?" 

Bob  shrugged  his  shoulders.     "  Well,  you'll  see." 

Valerie  looked  about  her,  seeing  the  wharf,  the  sheds, 
the  steamer,  and  the  uninteresting  line  of  low  shops  across 
the  street.  But  the  rest  of  the  place  blurred  off  into  the 
pall  of  smoke  that  was  choking  the  life  out  of  the  little 
flat  town.  Even  the  opposite  bank  of  the  river  was  clouded 
in  a  hot  mystery.  The  Wairoa  itself,  usually  a  restless 
stream,  dawdled  along  on  the  top  of  the  tide,  a  turgid 
yellow,  carrying  charred  debris  gathered  up  by  its  far-off 
rambling  tributaries,  and  doing  nothing  that  a  river 
should  to  cool  the  air  or  refresh  the  eye.  It  was  hotter, 
if  anything,  on  its  surface  than  it  was  in  the  sandy  town. 

Valerie  gave  little  thought  just  then  to  the  passengers 
or  to  the  people  who  met  them,  though  she  knew  that  she 
and  Bob  were  being  stared  at.  The  town  already  knew 
him  as  the  editor  of  the  new  tri-weekly  paper,  and  it  had 
known  for  some  days  that  he  was  to  have  a  woman  assist- 
ant from  Auckland.  While  this  was  a  matter  of  real 
interest  in  a  place  that  had  a  population  of  under  two 
thousand,  it  was  not  a  matter  for  astonishment.  Nothing 
was  a  matter  for  astonishment  in  Dargaville.  That  was 
the  town's  pet  pose. 


THE  STRANGE  ATTRACTION  3 

But  such  of  the  town  as  met  the  steamer  that  day 
looked  curiously  at  the  newcomers  for  several  reasons. 
Bob  was  the  son  of  the  Bishop  of  Auckland,  and  Valerie 
was  the  daughter  of  that  city's  cleverest  and  best-known 
lawyer,  Davenport  Carr.  The  glamour  of  this  combined 
social  distinction  made  the  local  dignitaries  look  a  little 
weak.  Not  that  the  town  would  have  admitted  it  in  pub- 
lic. Indeed  it  was  prepared  to  resist  any  undiplomatic 
move  on  the  part  of  the  outsiders  to  teach  it  anything 
with  the  undue  haste  usually  showed  by  outsiders  in  im- 
pressing little  towns.  But  it  stared  this  day  with  a 
friendly  feeling,  for  the  two  were  good  to  look  at,  and  the 
town  immediately  sniffed  the  possibility  of  romance. 


II 

Bob  and  Valerie  were  radiantly  healthy,  with  the  kind 
of  vitality  that  did  not  wilt  even  in  that  dissolving  atmos- 
phere. They  stood  tall  and  straight,  unaware  of  smoke- 
choked  lungs,  their  eyes  untroubled  by  the  glare  that 
radiated  off  the  zinc  roofs  of  the  sheds. 

In  spite  of  her  tedious  train  and  steamer  journey 
Valerie  had  contrived  to  arrive  with  the  air  of  having 
merely  strolled  out  of  a  nearby  street.  She  wore  a  plain 
dark  linen  dress  with  a  narrow  pale  blue  collar  round  the 
pointed  neck,  and  a  soft  linen  hat  to  match.  She  wore 
white  canvas  shoes  that  had  stayed  white,  and  white  open- 
work cotton  stockings.  There  was  not  a  superfluous  inch 
of  material  about  her.  She  carried  a  good  black  travelling 
bag  which  Bob  now  held. 

Valerie  was  not  conventionally  beautiful,  but  she  car- 
ried an  internal  dynamo  that  shot  sparks  at  the  passerby 
and  made  him  forget  his  manners,  turn  his  head  and  won- 


4  THE  STRANGE  ATTRACTION 

der  who  the  deuce  she  was.  And  there  was  something  in 
the  carriage  of  her  head,  and  the  fashioning  of  her  'liinbs 
and  the  assurance  of  her  manner  that  confirmed  his  first 
impression  that  she  was  that  desirable  thing,  somebody, 
not  only  in  her  own  right,  but  with  the  added  prestige  of 
ancestors. 

She  was  supple  and  loose-limbed  and  tanned  from  a 
summer  spent  largely  in  the  open  air.  Her  vitality  had 
run  over  from  her  limbs  into  her  amber  hair.  It  had  a 
curious  luminousness,  which  caused  many  of  her  acquaint- 
ances to  wonder  what  she  did  to  it.  She  coiled  it  about 
her  head  in  two  thick  ropes  which  usually  dragged  a  little 
down  her  forehead,  and  often  made  her  look  like  the  queen 
of  vampires,  the  very  last  lady  of  life  and  imagination 
she  would  have  bothered  to  imitate.  Beneath  that  amber 
hair,  and  beneath  heavy  eyebrows  of  the  same  colour,  her 
deep-set  and  amused  blue  eyes  softened  a  face  that  was  a 
little  too  contemptuous,  made  one  forget  the  nose,  a  little 
too  strong  for  beauty,  and  antidoted  a  mouth  that  was 
curiously  voluptuous.  For  the  rest  she  had  a  fine  skin, 
splendid  colour,  dimples,  a  good  chin,  and  her  head  well 
set  on  a  proud  neck. 

Bob  stood  over  six  feet,  a  well-developed  and  athletic 
male.  The  lines  of  his  face  were  straight  and  his  features 
cut  with  strength,  but  with  little  suggestion  of  delicacy. 
His  heavy  black  eyebrows  met  when  he  frowned  over 
humorous  brown  eyes  that  found  the  world  a  pretty  good 
place  to  live  in.  In  fact  most  things  were  pretty  good  to 
him.  He  had  a  healthy  crop  of  coarse  black  hair  on  his 
well-shaped  head,  and  it  was  always  cut  the  conventional 
length  and  combed  in  the  conventional  way.  He  was  al- 
ways carefully  up-to-date  with  his  clothes,  and  looked  ex- 
ceedingly well  in  them.  At  twenty-seven  he  had  extricated 
himself  from  the  perplexities  of  youth  and  adolescence,  had 


THE  STRANGE  ATTRACTION  5 

had  his  conventional  time  of  knocking  "around  away  from 
his  home  associations,  had  returned  in  the  conventional 
manner  to  settle  down  to  his  life-work. 

The  main  difference  between  these  two  was  that  you 
looked  at  Bob  and  dogmatized,  and  you  looked  at  Valerie 
and  wondered. 


Ill 

After  her  glance  about  the  wharf  Valerie  brought  her 
eyes  back  to  his  face. 

"  Where  am  I  to  stay?  "  she  asked. 

"  Mac's  pub,"  he  grinned. 

"  Oh,  Lord !  Beer  and  flies."  She  made  a  comical 
grimace.  "  Then  there's  nothing  else  ?  " 

"  No.  We  have  tried  everything.  Nobody  has  any 
room,  and  you'd  hate  boarding  with  anyone  here  anyway. 
Mac's  is  all  right,  clean  as  pubs  go,  and  the  food  is  jolly 
decent,  on  the  whole." 

"  Any  other  women  stay  there?  " 

"  No." 

"  Thank  God  for  that." 

"  Mac  refused  to  take  you  at  first.  You  see  he  can 
fill  up  most  of  the  time  with  men  who  spend  a  lot  at  the 
bar,  and  women  don't  pay.  And  then,  well,  the  pub  is 
la  bit  lively  sometimes.  However,  the  committee  spends 
a  lot  there,  and  Benton  fixed  it.  So  you  are  on  trial. 
Whatever  happens  you  must  not  complain  about  any- 
thing." 

"  Dash  it  all,  Bob,  did  you  ever  hear  me  complain  about 
anything?  " 

A  broad  grin  spread  over  his  face. 

"  Oh,  yes,  you've  heard  me  complain  about  hosts  of 
things,  fusty  old  ideas,  the  cowardly  virtues,  etc.,  oh,  yes. 


6  THE  STRANGE  ATTRACTION 

But  you  never  heard  me  complain  about  physical  discom- 
fort, now,  did  you?  " 

"  No,  gentle  Val.  And  I  told  Mac  that  if  you  found 
your  bedroom  full  of  rats  and  the  soup  full  of  cockroaches 
it  would  be  nothing  to  what  I've  seen  you  oblivious  to, 
and  that  you  would  be  out  of  the  place  all  day  and  most 
of  the  evenings  at  the  office.  Oh,  hullo!  Here  are  some 
of  the  committee." 

He  turned  as  two  men  came  round  the  corner  of  the 
shed. 

Valerie  looked  keenly  at  Tom  Allison  and  Ray  Bolton, 
the  bank  managers  of  the  town.  One  glance  at  them  told 
her  they  would  mean  nothing  in  her  life,  and  that  they 
probably  meant  little  in  the  lives  of  anybody  else. 

"  Sorry  you  had  to  arrive  on  our  hottest  day,  Miss 
Carr,"  said  Allison,  looking  at  her  with  a  deliberately 
inviting  and  admiring  gaze.  Young  women  of  manifest 
attractions  did  not  constitute  one  of  the  reasons  for  the 
fame  of  Dargaville. 

"  Oh,  I  shan't  judge  the  town  by  its  hottest  day,"  re- 
torted Valerie. 

Just  then  the  second  net  full  of  trunks  and  boxes  fell 
about  their  feet.  She  pointed  out  her  belongings,  and 
Bob  beckoned  to  a  carter  waiting  near.  Then  they  all 
walked  the  few  feet  of  wooden  planks  to  the  dusty  side- 
walk of  River  Street. 

The  bankers  claimed  Valerie  in  conversation.  They 
assured  her  that  Dargaville  was  quite  a  live  little  place, 
that  there  was  a  nice  exclusive  little  set,  and  a  good  bridge 
club.  They  parted  from  her  and  Bob  at  the  corner  of 
Queen  Street,  remarking  that  their  wives  would  call  as 
soon  as  they  returned  from  the  coast. 

Her  eyes  twinkled  at  Bob.  "  Is  that  the  best  the  place 
can  do?  " 


THE  STRANGE  ATTRACTION  7 

"Well,  Benton  has  a  good  deal  more  juice,"  he  smiled 
Hack. 

Valerie  looked  curiously  about  her  as  they  went  on  by 
the  river.  Along  the  bank  there  was  a  clay  path,  a  few 
sheds  and  boathouses  set  on  piles,  and  poles  to  which  boats 
were  moored  right  against  the  steep  edge.  The  shops  and 
stores  faced  them  from  the  other  side  of  the  street,  for 
this  was  a  one-sided  thoroughfare.  People  stood  there  in 
the  doorways  trying  to  get  some  air.  There  seemed  to  be 
a  little  breeze  now  coming  out  of  the  west.  A  limp  farmer 
passed  by  in  a  creaking  wagon,  his  horses  drooping. 
There  were  several  men  ahead  of  them  walking  to  the  hotel. 
There  were  no  sounds  about  them  but  the  rattling  and 
clanking  of  the  steamer  unloading  at  the  wharf. 

Soon  she  saw  a  large  building  looming  out  of  the  haze. 
It  was  a  typical  New  Zealand  small-town  wooden  hotel  of 
two  stories,  with  verandah  and  balcony  along  the  front 
and  down  the  side  farthest  from  the  centre  of  the  town. 
Two  men  were  lounging  at  the  front  door.  Already  she 
could  smell  the  beer  and  feel  the  flies. 

A  large  sign  across  part  of  the  front  told  the  passerby 
that  this  was  the  Dargaville  hotel  and  that  the  proprietor 
was  Thomas  MacAlarney. 


IV 

Bob  led  Valerie  down  the  near  side  of  the  house  to  the 
night  entrance,  along  a  narrow  corridor  to  the  hall,  and 
up  the  back  stairs  to  a  room  numbered  nine  without  meet- 
ing a  soul. 

"  Here  you  are,"  he  said.  "  Now  I  must  get  to  the 
office.  I'll  be  back  about  six.  If  I  were  you  I'd  always 
use  the  side  way.  The  front  stairs  come  down  beside  the 


8  THE  STRANGE  ATTRACTION 

public  bar.  This  is  the  quiet  end.  I'm  on  one  side  of  you 
and  Father  Ryan  is  on  the  other.  The  bathroom  is  op- 
posite us.  So  long." 

Bob's  parting  smile  was  meant  to  be  heartening.  He 
was  always  forgetting  that  sympathy  was  wasted  on  a 
person  who  persisted  in  regarding  everything  that  hap- 
pened, whether  good  or  bad,  as  some  kind  of  adventure. 

Valerie  opened  her  door  and  carried  her  hand-bag  in- 
side. She  threw  her  hat  on  the  bed,  dropped  into  the  one 
plain  chair,  wiped  her  face,  and  began  a  survey  of  the 
possible  horrors.  She  saw  that  the  room  was  fairly  clean, 
that  the  clothes  cupboard  would  do,  that  there  were  two 
pillows  to  the  single  bed,  an  unusually  generous  equipment, 
that  the  quilt  was  aggressively  white,  that  the  tops  of  the 
chest  of  drawers  and  the  washstand  were  not  stained  as 
badly  as  many  she  had  met  before,  that  the  pattern  on 
the  one  mat  had  faded  to  a  less  irritating  result  than  new- 
ness would  have  been,  and  that  the  wall  paper  did  not  have 
the  one  sickly  greenish-yellow  tone  she  could  not  possibly 
have  endured.  The  worst  being  thus  satisfactorily  ab- 
sent she  heaved  a  sigh  of  relief.  There  were  flies,  but  she 
had  had  flies  before,  and  most  of  them  would  go  with  the 
heat.  She  was  no  victim  of  optimism,  but  when  she  was 
using  a  present  as  a  means  to  a  future  it  was  the  future 
and  not  the  present  that  conquered  her  senses  and  her 
imagination. 

She  walked  to  the  window  swishing  out  the  flies.  She 
was  glad  to  see  that  it  opened  on  the  balcony  and  she 
hoped  that  she  would  have  it  mostly  to  herself.  She 
looked  across  the  river,  and  could  just  make  out  the  rush- 
fringed  edge  of  a  large  swamp.  She  turned  back  and 
smiled  into  the  spotted  mirror  that  hung  above  the  chest 
of  drawers. 

*'  Well,"  she  thought,  "  we  begin  again." 


THE  STRANGE  ATTRACTION 


She  sat  down  on  her  bed  wondering  whether  her  luggage 
would  be  brought  up  or  whether  she  would  have  to  go  in 
search  of  it.  She  knew  there  was  no  service  beyond  the 
weekly  cleaning  of  her  room  and  the  providing  of  meals. 
There  had  been  no  maid  visible  in  the  hall,  and  none  would 
ever  come.  There  were  no  bells  to  ring.  Some  time  she 
would  have  to  capture  her  chambermaid  and  see  what 
could  be  done  with  her.  She  took  some  soap  out  of  her 
bag  and  a  towel  off  the  rack,  and  walked  out  to  the  bath- 
room. A  porter  was  dragging  her  largest  trunk  down  the 
hall  linoleum. 

"  Fine,"  she  said  as  he  came  up  to  Her.  "  I  was  won- 
dering what  I  should  do  about  it." 

He  straightened  his  back,  and  to  her  surprise  touched 
his  forehead.  She  looked  into  the  approving  blue  eyes  of 
a  thin,  seedy  Irishman  whose  favourite  occupation  was 
advertised  somewhat  blatantly  in  the  colour  of  his  nose. 

"Ah,  and  it's  the  heat  you've  brought,  miss,"  he  said, 
wiping  his  face  with  his  sleeve. 

"  More  than  usual  ?  " 

"  Shure.  It  has  been  cool  till  this.  I'm  thinking  it 
won't  be  very  comfortable  here  for  a  lady." 

"  I  shall  be  all  right.  I  can  be  all  right  anywhere.  Do 
you  belong  to  the  house?  " 

"  Indeed  and  I  do." 

"  Fine.  If  I  get  into  any  trouble  I'll  come  to  you. 
What's  your  name?  " 

"  It's  Michael  O'Shay  I  am,  miss.  And  I'll  tell  Nancy 
to  take  the  good  care  of  you.  I'll  be  after  her  when  I  go 
down." 

"  No,  no,  thanks.  Don't  do  that.  The  girls  are  prob- 
ably resting  now,  and  if  they  are  not  they  ought  to  be. 


10  THE  STRANGE  ATTRACTION 

There's  nothing  I  want,  really.  I  hate  disturbing  tired 
girls." 

He  beamed  at  her. 

"  God  bless  3^ou  for  a  kind  one,  miss.  He  might  have 
made  a  few  more  while  He  was  about  it.  But  I  must  be 
after  working." 

When  he  was  returning  for  the  last  time  Valerie  won- 
dered whether  she  should  tip  him.  She  wished  she  had 
asked  Bob  what  the  custom  here  was.  The  minute  she 
reached  for  her  purse  she  saw  she  had  made  a  mistake. 

"  Nothing  from  a  lady  like  yourself,  miss,"  said  Michael 
with  a  hurt  look. 

"  Indeed  no,  Michael.  But  I  want  you  to  go  and  get 
me  a  bottle  of  ale,  and  bring  it  up  here.  Can  you  do  that 
for  a  thirsty  person?  " 

"  Indeed  and  I  can,"  and  with  a  look  that  included  her 
in  a  secret  fellowship,  he  went  off  to  return  in  a  few  min- 
utes with  a  bottle,  a  corkscrew,  a  tumbler  and  sixpence 
change. 

She  waved  back  the  coin.  "  You  must  drink  that  to  me 
for  good  luck  in  Dargaville,"  she  said  gaily. 

"  God  love  you,  miss,  and  there'll  never  be  anything  but 
.good  luck  for  the  likes  of  you."  He  opened  her  bottle, 
touched  his  forehead  again,  and  backed  out  gallantly. 

Valerie  drank  her  ale,  and  after  a  cold  shower  began  to 
unpack.  She  heard  no  sound  immediately  about  her  till 
Bob  knocked  on  her  door  at  a  quarter  past  six. 


VI 

She  looked  with  interest  round  the  large  dining-room, 
for  there  were  all  sorts  of  men  sitting  at  the  small  square 
tables.  Bob  led  her  to  one  in  the  corner  almost  under 
their  rooms. 


THE  STRANGE  ATTRACTION  11 

"  Is  Mac  here?  "  she  asked  as  they  sat  down. 

"  No.  He  eats  late.  You  may  not  see  him  for  days, 
and  he  won't  take  any  notice  of  you." 

She  looked  at  the  place  set  opposite  his.  "  Who  sits 
there?  " 

"  Father  Ryan.  I  thought  you  would  not  mind.  He 
has  always  sat  here.  He  is  a  charming  gentleman.  He's 
away  to-night.  Why,  here's  Benton." 

He  rose  to  meet  a  large,  loosely-built  man  in  dusty  rid- 
ing clothes  who  sauntered  with  spurs  jingling  down  the 
room  towards  them.  Roger  Bentou  was  wiping  his  face 
with  a  handkerchief  that  would  have  scandalized  his  wife 
at  that  moment.  He  held  out  a  big  hairy,  tanned  hand 
to  Valerie  and  dropped  into  the  priest's  chair. 

"  I  meant  to  be  at  the  steamer,  Miss  Carr.  I  promised 
my  wife  I  would,  but  my  horse  cast  a  shoe  the  other  side 
of  Te  Koperu,  and  delayed  me.  How's  your  father?  " 
He  looked  at  her  out  of  gay  lazy  bluish-gray  eyes. 

"  Fine,  thanks."  She  looked  him  over  quickly,  liking 
his  boyish  frankness  and  country  comfortableness. 

"  Join  us  for  dinner,  Benton,"  said  Bob. 

"  No,  thanks,  I'm  on  my  way  to  the  camp.  I  just 
dropped  in  to  greet  Miss  Carr.  I  hope  you  will  like  us." 
His  eyes  rested  on  her  again  with  a  vague  intentness.  He 
thought  her  very  stunning. 

"  I  hope  so  too,"  she  retorted  mischievously. 

"  It's  a  small  town  but  we  manage  to  knock  some  fun 
out  of  it,"  he  went  on. 

"  I  shall  like  a  great  deal  about  it,  but  I'm  not  promis- 
ing to  like  the  things  I  shall  be  expected  to  like." 

He  looked  a  little  uncertainly  into  her  amused  eyes. 
"  Mrs.  Benton  wants  you  to  come  along  on  Sunday  after- 
noon to  the  camp,  you  and  Lorrimer,"  he  said. 

She   hesitated   a   moment.     But   the   word   camp    had 


12 

magic  in  it.  And  then  she  felt  she  could  hardly  refuse 
this  first  invitation.  "  Thanks.  I  shall  like  to  come." 

"  That's  good.  Anything  you  want  me  for,  Lorri- 
mer?  "  He  stood  up. 

"  I  think  not.     Things  are  going  all  right." 

Roger  went  off,  nodding  at  every  table  he  passed. 

Then  Bob  turned  to  the  waitress  who  had  come  up  and 
was  standing  glancing  at  Valerie. 

"  Lizzie,"  he  said  informally,  "  this  is  Miss  Carr." 

Valerie  smiled  up  at  her  and  without  a  word  established 
between  herself  and  the  girl  the  understanding  that  existed 
between  her  and  all  people  who  ever  served  her.  When 
Lizzie  had  departed  with  their  order  she  turned  to  Bob. 

"  What  did  he  mean  by  the  camp?  " 

"  It's  out  on  the  coast.     The  elite  have  cottages  there." 


VII 

After  dinner  when  Bob  had  returned  to  the  office  Valerie 
continued  her  unpacking.  She  shed  most  of  her  clothes 
for  the  purpose.  Through  her  open  window  came  inter- 
mittent sounds  of  voices  and  laughter  from  the  bar,  but 
nothing  passed  by  along  the  street.  A  little  before  ten 
o'clock  something  brought  her  upstanding,  taut,  like  a 
listening  animal.  She  bounded  out  on  the  balcony,  forget- 
ting she  had  on  only  a  shirt  and  bloomers  and  was  visible 
from  the  street.  She  looked  upstream  whence  the  excit- 
ing sounds  had  come,  and  saw  a  green  and  a  red  light  and 
then  the  outlines  of  a  little  steamer  and  a  big  ship  filigreed 
against  the  dull  radiance  of  a  hazy  rising  moon.  She 
drew  a  long  breath  as  the  small  boat  tugged  and  the 
great  ship  glided  past  the  hotel,  so  near  that  she  could 
have  thrown  a  stone  upon  the  decks.  She  heard  the 
sounds  of  strong,  hoarse  voices  and  the  clanking  of 


THE  STRANGE  ATTRACTION  13 

chains  mingling  with  the  pompous  throb  of  the  engine  in 
the  tug.  She  blew  a  sentimental  wish  to  the  unknown  men 
on  their  way  to  sea,  and  she  stood  till  she  could  no  longer 
see  any  evidences  of  their  passing.  .  .  .  Then  she 
was  arrested  by  another  sound.  Through  the  clammy  si- 
lence of  the  night  there  advanced  and  retreated  the  unmis- 
takable roll  of  the  ocean  breaking  on  a  long  beach.  She 
hung  her  head  over  the  balcony  the  better  to  hear. 

She  heard  Bob's  steps  along  the  hall.  She  rushed  to 
his  window  and  poked  in  her  head. 

"  Bob,"  she  began  excitedly,  as  he  opened  his  door. 
*l  You  didn't  tell  me  we  could  hear  the  sea." 

"Val!  Good  heavens,  what  are  you  doing?  What? 
The  sea?  Yes,  the  coast  is  only  four  miles  away."  He 
qame  up  to  the  window.  He  was  very  tired. 

"  But,  Bob,  how  wonderful !     Do  we  always  hear  it?  " 

"  Yes,  when  it  is  still.  I  say,  Val,  really,  you  must  not 
go  out  on  the  balcony  like  that.  The  pub  is  closing,  and 
the  men  come  round  this  side  of  the  house  to  the  stables. 
They  mustn't  see  us  here.  You  know,  you  must  be  a  little 
discreet." 

"  Oh  hell,  Bob.  You  are  getting  to  be  an  old  grand- 
mother. Good-night."  She  ran  her  hands  viciously 
through  his  hair,  patted  his  cheek  more  kindly,  and  with 
an  absurdly  furtive  air  crept  back  along  the  wall  to  her 
window. 

The  weary  Bob  was  asleep  in  a  quarter  of  an  hour,  but 
Valerie  lay  for  some  time  listening  to  the  surf  beating  like 
a  pulse  in  the  heart  of  the  stifled  town. 


VIII 

When  she  walked  into  the  dining-room  the  next  morning 
Bob  had  vanished  and  Father  Ryan  was  drinking  his  sec- 


14)  THE  STRANGE  ATTRACTION 

ond  cup  of  coffee.  There  were  a  few  stragglers  scattered 
at  the  tables,  men  who  had  lived  not  wisely  but  too  well  in 
the  recent  past  and  looked  as  if  they  were  doubtful  about 
the  blessing  of  surviving  to  greet  another  day. 

The  priest  rose  and  drew  out  her  chair.  Father  Ryan 
was  small  and  thin  and  exquisite.  His  hair  was  like  white 
floss  silk,  and  his  bright  blue  eyes  were  both  keen  and  mild. 
He  looked  at  Valerie  as  the  other  men  had  done  with  obvi- 
ous admiration,  but  the  quality  of  his  approval  was  a  very 
different  thing. 

"  I  hope  the  heat  did  not  keep  you  from  sleep,"  he  said, 
after  they  had  greeted  each  other. 

"  It  did  not,  thanks.  I  slept  much  too  well.  I  meant 
to  be  down  at  eight.  But  that's  not  the  first  good  inten- 
tion of  mine  that  has  gone  wrong." 

She  was  pleased  to  see  that  he  gave  her  a  quick  smile. 

As  she  ate  her  eggs  and  bacon  she  asked  him  questions 
about  his  parish.  She  was  glad  to  think  she  would  have 
his  voice  to  listen  to,  for  he  spoke  the  most  beautiful  Eng- 
lish in  the  world,  the  English  of  the  Irish  scholar.  He  sat 
with  her  till  she  had  finished,  and  bowed  her  through  the 
door  with  a  manner  that  made  her  feel  as  if  she  were  in  a 
mediaeval  tale. 

She  could  see  little  of  the  town  as  she  walked  to  the 
office.  She  had  no  idea  of  the  extent  of  it  as  it  straggled 
along  the  river  with  its  broad  streets  and  many  open  lots. 
It  was  almost  entirely  a  one-story  town,  the  largest  on  the 
Wairoa,  and  the  only  one  to  have  banks  and  now  a  paper 
of  its  own.  It  was  the  terminus  of  a  railway  that  ran 
eighteen  miles  north  into  one  of  the  finest  kauri  forests  of 
the  country.  But  nobody  knew  just  why  it  had  happened 
to  grow  where  it  did,  for  it  was  on  the  narrowest  part  of 
a  great  barren  tongue  of  land  that  stretched  from  th'e 
Kaipara  heads  for  the  best  part  of  sixty  miles  between  the 


THE  STRANGE  ATTRACTION  15 

river  and  the  sea  with  not  a  thing  to  attract  settlement 
except  the  depth  of  the  river  on  that  side.  It  had  na 
water  supply  save  the  uncertain  one  of  rainfall.  It  faced 
a  great  swamp.  But  it  was  now  the  growing  town  of  a 
prosperous  and  booming  timber  and  dairying  district. 

It  was  the  river  that  most  interested  Valerie  as  she 
walked  along.  It  was  the  best  commercial  waterway  in 
the  North  Island,  and  on  its  upper  reaches  it  was  haunt- 
ingly  beautiful.  It  stretched  away  into  gumfields  and  re- 
mote valleys.  Little  steamers  and  launches  fussed  con- 
tinually upon  its  strong  current,  and  at  any  moment  a 
ship  might  come  gliding  round  a  bend. 

But  Dargaville  had  its  distinction.  It  was  blase,  and 
liked  to  say  the  world  came  to  its  doors.  It  was  used  to 
the  unusual,  to  men  who  had  roamed  the  whole  earth,  to 
all  the  types  that  go  down  to  the  sea  in  ships.  Governors 
and  members  of  Parliament  passed  through  it  to  shoot. 
Newly  arrived  Englishmen  came  spying  out  the  land.  Re- 
mittance men  came  to  its  banks  to  cash  orders  signed  by 
titled  names.  And  it  was  used,  too,  to  seeing  bodies  that 
had  been  fished  out  of  the  river  covered  with  an  old  sheet 
and  carried  on  a  stretcher  into  Mac's  hotel.  It  was  used 
to  seeing  the  constable  marching  solemnly  between  painted 
ladies  who  had  just  arrived  from  Auckland,  and  who  had 
to  be  returned  by  the  steamer  by  which  they  came  without 
damage  to  the  morals  of  the  youth  of  the  town  and  before 
they  could  escape  to  the  bush. 

Dargaville  had  not  been  astonished  when  a  woman  doc- 
tor took  charge  of  the  Aratapu  hospital,  three  miles  down 
the  river.  So  it  had  taken  calmly  the  information  that 
the  new  paper  would  have  a  woman  on  the  editorial  staff. 
Nor  was  it  unduly  surprised  to  learn  later  that  the  woman 
was  young  and  amazing,  and  that  she  was  living  in  Mac's 
hotel. 


16  THE  STRANGE  ATTRACTION 

Valerie  walked  on  as  Bob  had  directed  her  till  she  came 
to  a  low,  narrow  building  standing  between  two  open  lots. 
The  paper  had  been  housed  in  a  store  on  the  fringe  of  the 
town  near  the  railway  station.  There  she  saw  trucks  of 
sawn  timber  which  was  being  loaded  into  a  brig  at  the 
short  wharf.  Train  sheds  blackened  by  smoke  straggled 
along  both  sides  of  the  line  in  the  direction  of  the  ticket 
office  which  was  a  couple  of  blocks  inland.  She  crossed 
the  street  with  her  eyes  on  the  unpretentious  construction 
that  was  to  house  more  than  she  ever  dreamed.  A  newly 
painted  sign,  The  Dargaville  News,  dwarfed  its  size  and 
diminished  the  proportions  of  the  one  broad  window,  which 
had  been  whitewashed  inside  half-way  up.  She  knew  it 
was  probably  the  smallest  and  meanest  newspaper  office  in 
the  colony,  but  she  had  learned  not  to  despise  beginnings. 

As  she  stood  a  moment  considering  it  she  could  hear 
Bob's  voice  inside  giving  orders  to  somebody,  and  the 
monotonous  throb  of  machinery  in  the  rear.  Feeling  as 
if  she  had  cast  something  behind  her  forever,  she  put  her 
foot  on  the  log  step  and  jumped  into  a  narrow  passage 
partitioned  from  the  office  for  a  distance  of  six  feet  by 
glazed  glass.  Past  it  she  looked  across  a  high  sloping 
counter  down  at  Bob.  He  was  leaning  over  a  desk  by  the 
opposite  wall,  and  while  he  wrote  he  was  telling  a  dark  boy 
of  extraordinary  aliveness  to  get  a  certain  advertisement 
back  from  the  foreman.  Valerie  whistled  the  notes  of  the 
tui's  spring  song.  Bob  spun  round  on  his  chair  and  got 
to  his  feet.  The  (lark  boy,  after  one  unabashed  stare  at 
her,  darted  into  the  composing-room  to  tell  the  staff  that 
she  had  come. 

"  I'm  ready  for  anything,"  she  said. 

"  I  never  knew  you  when  you  weren't,"  grinned  Bob. 


CHAPTER  II 


WHEN  Bob  introduced  her  to  him  Valerie  saw 
the  importance  of  Jimmy  to  the  Dargaville 
News.  Indeed,  Jimmy  did  more  than  work  with 
the  energy  of  six  boys.  He  cast  a  glamour  over  the  littered 
office  and  the  second-hand  machinery  and  the  smelly  com- 
posing-room. His  work  was  more  to  him  than  a  job,  those 
circumscribing  four  walls  fell  down  before  his  roving  eyes, 
and  the  cantankerous  old  printing  machine  was  an  enemy 
after  his  own  heart. 

Jimmy  was  a  boy  of  uncertain  fatherhood,  and  the  eld- 
est of  a  family  of  five.  When  he  was  an  inconvenient  in- 
fant his  mother  had  come  to  Dargaville  dressed  as  a  young 
widow,  and  though  obviously  not  of  the  servant  class  had 
begun  to  keep  herself  and  her  child  by  doing  washing. 
Women  who  watched  her  suspected  that  she  set  her  teeth 
on  this  work,  and  one  day  one  of  them  asked  her  if  she 
could  sew,  and  offered  to  start  her  as  a  dressmaker.  And 
Jimmy's  mother  became  one  of  the  best  sewers  in  the  town. 
Then  she  married  a  decent  youth  employed  in  Roger  Ben- 
ton's  stores.  They  had  four  children,  the  youngest  but  a 
baby,  when  the  father  was  killed  in  an  accident.  The  town 
rallied  to  help  the  game  little  woman  whose  children  were 
always  clean  and  well  behaved,  a  subscription  was  got  up 
for  her,  and  she  started  out  again  as  a  dressmaker. 

Jimmy  had  known  for  years  that  a  great  responsibility 
rested  on  his  shoulders.  He  had  to  show  the  town  that  it 
had  not  wasted  its  time  when  it  had  helped  his  mother. 

17 


18  THE  STRANGE  ATTRACTION 

He  had  just  left  school  and  was  looking  for  work  when 
there  was  talk  of  the  coming  paper.  But  it  did  not  occur 
to  him  at  first  that  it  would  have  anything  so  wonderful 
as  a  job  for  a  boy. 

He  was  fishing  off  the  station  wharf  when  one  of  his 
school  friends  told  him  he  had  just  heard  a  boy  was 
wanted  for  it.  He  jumped  up,  left  his  line  and  bait,  and 
ran  along  the  river  to  the  office  where  two  men  were  un- 
loading the  new  jobbing  machine.  He  was  told  the  boss 
had  gone  to  lunch.  He  ran  all  the  way  to  Mac's  hotel, 
stopped  panting  in  the  hall,  hesitated  a  moment  about 
storming  the  dining-room,  but  bursting  with  anxiety  lest 
he  be  too  late  he  stuck  his  head  in  at  the  door.  He  saw 
Bob  Lorrimer  eating  alone,  quite  unconscious  of  the  por- 
tentous power  he  seemed,  and  got  a  fit  of  horrid  funk, 
but  conquering  it  as  he  did  Red  Indians  in  his  dreams,  he 
strode  hot  and  grubby  and  fishy  to  Bob's  table,  and  stood 
nervously  twisting  his  cap  in  his  hands.  He  was  sick  with 
shame  at  feeling  the  eyes  of  the  room  upon  him,  and  hu- 
miliated by  the  sight  of  his  filthy  fingers,  but  still  some- 
thing supported  him  in  that  dreadful  moment. 

"  Please,  sir,"  he  began  miserably,  as  Bob  looked  at  him. 

"  Well,  son,  what  do  you  want  ?  "  asked  the  arbiter  of 
fate  quite  amiably. 

"  Please,  sir,  I  heard  you  want  a  boy,  a  boy  for  the 
paper." 

Jimmy  ached  to  sink  into  the  earth  as  Bob  covered 
him  with  a  shrewd  glance.  He  could  not  know  that  the 
man  was  immediately  prepossessed  in  his  favour. 

Jimmy  was  a  short  stocky  boy  with  very  bright  brown 
e3res  and  bronze-tinted  hair.  Usually  his  round  face  shone 
with  some  secret  amusement  of  his  own  at  the  world  about 
him,  an  amusement  curiously  mingled  with  the  solicitude  he 
had  acquired  from  helping  a  tired  mother  and  keeping  a 


THE  STRANGE  ATTRACTION  IS 

watchful  eye  on  little  ones.  Bob  did  not  see  the  solicitude 
at  this  moment,  but  he  saw  something  that  held  him.  He 
knew  the  job  mattered  enormously  to  Jimmy. 

"Do  you  really  want  to  work,  son?"  he  asked.  "It 
will  be  hard  work." 

"  Yes,  please,  sir." 

"  What  have  you  done?  " 

Jimmy  drooped  pitifully.  "  I — I  haven't  done  any- 
thing, sir.  I've  just  left  school." 

"  What  standard  have  you  passed?  " 

"  The  sixth,  sir.  I'm  fourteen."  There  was  nothing 
boastful  about  the  latter  statement,  but  it  was  given  hope- 
fully. 

"  What's  your  name?  " 

"  Jimmy  Paul,  sir." 

"  All  right.  Come  to  the  office  at  nine  to-morrow  morn- 
ing, Jimmy." 

The  boy  stared  at  him  swallowing  hard.  "  Will 
— will  you  take  me,  sir?  "  He  could  not  realize  it  was 
done. 

"  Yes,  Jimmy,  I'll  try  you.  You  can  be  a  fine  help  to 
me  if  you  really  want  to  work,  and  I'll  pay  you  what  you 
are  worth.  I'll  see  you  at  nine  to-morrow." 

But  Jimmy  still  stood  fumbling  with  his  cap,  unable  to 
move.  And  Bob  understood. 

"  I  say,  Jimmy,  do  you  know  any  boys  who  would  help 
to  deliver  the  paper  at  night?  " 

"  Yes,  sir." 

"  Fine.  You  pick  out  three  of  the  best  and  bring  them 
with  you  in  the  morning.  They  must  be  reliable,  you  un- 
derstand, and  be  willing  to  stay  on  the  job.  They  must 
be  ready  to  come  along  after  school  if  they're  still  at  it. 
They'll  get  a  commission  on  the  papers  they  sell  and  a 
wage  for  delivering.  And  it  will  take  an  hour  or  more 


20  THE  STRANGE  ATTRACTION 

according  to  the  number  of  regular  boys  you  can  get.  I'd 
like  three  at  least.  Can  you  look  them  up  this  after- 
noon? " 

"  Yes,  sir." 

And  bursting  with  pride  at  this  amazing  trust  in  him, 
and  with  eyes  that  would  have  lit  up  a  dark  night,  he 
strode  out  of  the  dining-room  and  dashed  off  to  tell  his 
mother  that  he  had  the  grandest  boy's  job  in  the  town. 

Bob  smiled  after  him.  He  had  been  told  by  the  com- 
mittee the  night  before  that  Jimmy  was  the  boy  he  should 
get,  but  even  without  that  recommendation  he  would  have 
known  Jimmy  was  the  boy.  And  Bob  was  satisfied  with 
the  three  that  Jimmy  brought  with  him  the  next  morning, 
and  saw  that  it  was  a  regular  boy  gang  with  its  acknowl- 
edged code  and  leadership  and  loyalty. 

When  Valerie  arrived  Jimmy  was  managing  his  run- 
ners, and  trying  not  to  be  lordly  about  it,  for  his  mother 
had  impressed  on  him  that  pride  goeth  before  a  fall.  He 
counted  out  their  papers,  checked  up  their  sales  and  re- 
turns, put  the  pennies  into  a  cash-box  of  his  own  and 
entered  each  boy's  record  in  a  three-penny  note-book  that 
was  the  treasure  of  his  life.  He  would  have  died  to  save 
it  from  injury,  and  he  never  had  a  more  wonderful  mo- 
ment than  when  after  Bob  had  audited  and  balanced  it 
for  the  first  time,  he  had  turned  with  the  words,  "  First 
rate,  Jimmy.  Not  a  mistake.  Go  on  as  you  have  done 
this  week  and  I'll  raise  your  salary  at  the  end  of  the 
month." 

And  listening  to  him  that  night  his  tired  mother  dreamt 
wonderful  dreams  for  him,  mingled  with  hopes  of  rest 
some  day  for  herself. 

But  Jimmy  did  much  more  than  manage  the  runners. 
He  swept  out  the  office  and  the  composing-room,  he  sharp- 
ened the  pencils,  filled  the  inkwells,  washed  the  paste 


THE  STRANGE  ATTRACTION  21 

brushes,  filed  the  papers  and  exchanges,  ran  all  the  er- 
rands, greased  the  machinery.  He  helped  the  foreman  to 
make  up,  and  he  learned  to  set  type  and  to  follow  copy. 
And  all  these  things  he  did  as  if  the  world  moved  only 
because  they  were  done. 

"  What  a  gorgeous  boy,"  said  Valerie  to  Bob  at  the  end 
of  the  second  day.  "  This  place  is  a  continuous  revel  for 
him." 

"  Yes,  and  you'll  be  part  of  the  revel  soon." 
*'  Well,  that  won't  hurt  him,"  she  retorted. 

II 

Valerie  was  alone  in  the  building  at  four  o'clock  the  fol- 
lowing Saturday  afternoon  for  Bob  had  gone  off  to  report 
a  dairy  conference,  and  the  staff  had  also  gone,  as  they 
did  at  the  week-end  when  possible,  since  it  was  not  a  pub- 
lishing day.  She  had  just  smiled  the  last  of  them  out 
with  the  comfortable  feeling  that  she  would  have  no  an- 
tagonisms there.  From  the  first  day  she  had  regarded 
them  as  co-workers  with  herself,  and  her  friendly  attitude 
had  been  returned  with  good  measure.  She  knew  that  the 
foreman  Ryder,  and  the  jobbing-man  Johnson,  and  the 
leading  woman  typesetter,  Miss  Hands,  who  had  all  been 
brought  from  Auckland,  were  sophisticated  artisans  ready 
to  jump  at  the  first  pin  prick,  but  because  she  had  read 
history  with  insight,  and  understood  the  background  that 
had  contributed  to  their  sensitiveness,  and  because  she  had 
in  herself  no  class  consciousness,  she  met  them  frankly  on 
the  ground  of  common  interest,  eager  to  learn  all  they 
could  teach  her. 

And  she  had  won  their  gratitude  by  insisting  that  awn- 
ings be  provided  for  the  windows  of  the  composing-room, 
a  matter  Bob  had  let  slide. 

Valerie  leaned  back  in  her  chair  stretching  herself.     She 


22  THE  STRANGE  ATTRACTION 

had  to  admit  she  was  tired  with  the  long  hours  and  tHe 
unusual  weather.  She  had  worked  till  after  ten  every 
night.  She  had  as  yet  seen  nothing  of  the  town.  Her 
only  exalted  moments  had  been  those  when  timber  vessels 
had  gone  by.  And  it  was  wonderful  to  look  through  the 
clear  upper  half  of  the  office  window  across  the  dusty 
road,  past  a  fringe  of  rushes,  and  to  see  stealing  into  the 
smoke  cloud  on  the  river  a  phantom  ship  slipping  from 
nowhere  into  nowhere,  like  the  fabrication  of  a  dream. 
She  thought  of  one  that  had  gone  by  that  morning,  a 
black  brig  etched  in  for  a  few  unforgettable  minutes  in  a 
world  of  vagueness  before  it  faded  out. 

She  was  glad  she  had  come.  It  was  good  to  have  a 
real  job,  to  feel  that  she  was  independent,  that  at  last 
she  had  got  clear  away  from  the  relatives  and  their  set, 
and  that  a  new  world  was  before  her. 

She  worked  on  till  after  half-past  six.  She  saw  she 
would  have  to  come  back  after  dinner  and  probably  the 
next  morning.  But  then  there  was  the  afternoon  when 
she  would  walk  with  Bob  to  the  coast.  The  thought  of 
the  open  sea  lifted  her  spirits.  She  closed  her  books, 
locked  the  front  door  behind  her,  and  turned  towards  the 
hotel.  It  was  half-past  seven  when  she  reached  the  dining- 
room. 

It  seemed  to  her  to  be  unusually  full  of  men.  Then 
she  remembered  that  it  was  Saturday  night,  pay  night, 
half  holiday  night  for  the  bushes  and  the  mills,  and  she 
was  prepared  for  it  to  be  noisy  till  late.  That  dining-room 
at  the  end  of  a  hot  day  would  have  wrecked  the  nerves 
of  a  sensitive  person  who  had  not  a  sense  of  humour. 
Colossal  designs  had  been  an  obsession  with  the  decorator 
employed  by  Mac  to  do  the  house  up  in  style.  The  wall 
paper  was  heavily  embossed  with  gigantic  dark  brown 
chrysanthemums  which  stood  out  in  a  manner  that  made  it 


THE  STRANGE  ATTRACTION  23 

surprising  that  pictures  could  be  hung  against  them.  The 
pictures,  with  the  exception  of  one  of  a  ship,  were  adver- 
tisements of  whiskies,  ales  and  stouts  set  in  wide  gilt  frames 
that  had  not  been  cleaned  since  the  house  was  built.  The 
room  was  high,  but  a  varnished  ceiling  and  a  high  var- 
nished dado,  to  the  height  of  five  feet  all  round  it,  dimin- 
ished its  liberal  proportions.  A  huge  sideboard  blatantly 
displayed  enormous  pieces  of  silver  that  had  appare^4"1;7 
been  designed  to  show  how  many  bunches  of  graphs  could 
be  moulded  to  the  square  foot.  Competing  for  attention 
were  bowls  and  bottles  of  cut  glass  ravined  and  cliffed  like 
a  mountainous  land.  The  two  smaller  sideboards  that 
held  piles  of  plates  and  silver  for  the  tables  were  dwarfed 
to  an  undeserved  insignificance.  It  was  evident  that  the 
linoleum  had  been  intended  to  match  the  wall  paper.  But 
the  intention  was  better  than  the  result.  The  eight  win- 
dows along  one  side  were  hung  with  curtains  of  lace  no 
longer  white,  elaborate  in  pattern  and  heavy  with  a  de- 
sign to  match  the  silverware.  Stretched  in  the  wash  to 
different  lengths  they  formed  an  irregular  line  above  the 
floor,  and  threatened  in  places  to  trail  upon  it.  The  room 
was  lit  with  four  gas  lamps  suspended  from  the  centre. 

But  hideous  as  it  all  was,  it  was  one  of  the  cleanest 
rooms  of  its  kind.  The  campaign  against  flies  was  vigor- 
ous, varied  and  continuous.  Every  sugar  bowl  and  milk 
jug  and  butter  cooler  and  bread  board  was  protected  with 
circles  of  netting  hung  round  the  border  with  heavy  blue 
beads.  The  table-cloths  were  changed  twice  a  week  and 
the  floor  washed  daily. 

To  Valerie  this  was  ugliness  carried  to  the  point  of 
humour.  And  then  it  was  inevitable.  She  could  not  change 
it.  And  she  had  as  extraordinary  a  patience  with  dis- 
agreeable facts  as  she  had  extraordinary  an  impatience 
with  disagreeable  ideas. 


24  THE  STRANGE  ATTRACTION 

This  night  as  she  walked  to  her  table  her  feet  dragged 
a  little.  She  was  relieved  to  see  Father  Ryan  was  away 
for  she  could  not  have  exerted  herself  to  talk.  She  sat 
down,  sympathized  with  Lizzie  who  looked  pale,  and 
glanced  idly  about  the  tables  near  her.  A  little  way  off 
a  tweeded  Englishman  and  another  man  eating  with  him 
returned  her  casual  look.  The  Englishman  did  not  par- 
..Ito^larly  interest  her,  but  the  other  one  did  for  she  saw 
it  was  Doctor  Steele,  of  whom  Bob  had  talked  significantly. 

The  doctor  was  the  best  physician  and  surgeon  on  the 
river.  He  was  also  a  man  with  a  skeleton  in  the  cup- 
board, only  it  was  a  skeleton  that  never  stayed  in  the  cup- 
board, but  danced  grimacing  upon  the  public  streets  to 
the  scandal  of  the  passerby.  He  had  a  wife  who  was  a 
pathological  case  or  a  vile  old  hag  according  as  to  whether 
the  critic  were  scientific  or  emotional.  Men  often  won- 
dered why  the  doctor  allowed  her  to  live  on  with  him,  but 
he  was  of  those  who  having  once  loved  a  woman  recognized 
some  obligation  to  care  for  her  ever  afterwards.  In  the 
hotel  Mac  saw  to  it  that  he  had  peace,  for  he  once,  in  a 
notable  passage  of  arms,  had  informed  the  lady  in  no 
uncertain  terms  that  she  could  not  set  foot  in  his  house. 
The  doctor  spent  most  of  his  leisure  time  there.  He  never 
drank  to  excess.  His  great  diversion  was  poker  which  he 
played  incessantly  with  anyone  who  came  along,  caring 
nothing  whether  he  lost  or  won. 

Valerie  looked  beyond  him  down  the  crowded  room,  and 
at  once  her  eyes  were  held  by  a  figure  at  a  table  on  a 
line  with  her  own  at  the  other  end.  It  was  Mac's  table, 
and  now  for  the  first  time  she  saw  him  there-.  She  stared 
curiously  till,  raising  his  face,  he  caught  her  fixed  gaze. 
She  instantly  looked  away,  and  then  had  a  funny  feeling 
of  self-consciousness  as  she  felt  his  hard  scrutiny.  She 
went  on  eating  without  raising  her  head  till  someone  came 


THE  STRANGE  ATTRACTION  25 

up  to  her  table.  It  was  Michael,  with  a  tray  and  a  glass 
and  a  bottle  of  wine. 

"  Mac's  compliments,  miss,"  he  said  with  a  sly  smile,  as 
he  poured  her  out  some. 

She  was  absurdly  pleased.  She  looked  down  the  room, 
waited  till  Mac  looked  back  at  her,  and  then  she  raised  her 
glass  and  drank  to  him.  He  answered  her  by  a  jerky 
movement  intended  to  be  some  kind  of  salute.  And  that 
was  her  introduction  to  Thomas  MacAlarney.  Almost  a 
week  went  by  before  she  spoke  to  him. 


Ill 

The  owner  of  the  Dargaville  hotel  was  the  largest  and 
most  inarticulate  Irishman  in  New  Zealand.  He  was,  for 
his  race,  singularly  unapproachable.  He  had  been  born 
in  Australia  three  months  after  his  parents  arrived  there, 
and  had  early  become  a  nomad  about  the  gold  fields.  It 
was  at  Calgoorlie  and  Coolgardie  that  he  made  the  money 
he  afterwards  put  into  the  hotel  business.  He  had  drifted 
to  New  Zealand  and  Dargaville  as  men  drift  about  the 
colonies,  and  finding  only  one  poorly  run  house  he  had 
settled  there  and  set  himself  out  to  get  the  trade. 

Many  adjectives  would  slip  to  the  tongue  at  the  first 
sight  of  him,  but  not  the  word  prepossessing.  He  stood 
six  feet  two  and  required  the  seating  space  of  two  ordi- 
nary men.  But  he  was  not  a  floppy  fat  man.  His  enor- 
mous stomach  was  hard,  his  great  arms  were  hard.  The 
clutch  of  his  hand  was  as  inescapable  as  that  of  fate. 
His  tomato-coloured  skin  looked  very  dry  and  shiny  if  he 
had  just  washed  and  very  damp  if  he  had  not.  He  had  si 
large  round  head  covered  with  a  lot  of  coarse  gray  hair, 
and  a  pointed  beard  always  tidily  trimmed.  Heavy  black 
eyebrows  that  showed  hardly  a  streak  of  gray  bristled 


26  THE  STRANGE  ATTRACTION 

over  his  protruding  blue  eyes  in  a  manner  that  alarmed 
small  boys,  and,  indeed,  many  an  adult  when  he  frowned. 
The  eyes  themselves  had  a  curious  expression  of  mingled 
amusement  and  hostility.  He  looked  at  all  people  with  a 
fixed  hard  stare,  and  one  had  to  know  him  for  some  time 
to  realize  that  he  did  not  crave  to  murder  the  whole  human 
race. 

He  was  never  known  to  wear  a  coat  save  at  the  start 
and  end  of  his  annual  trip  to  Auckland.  No  tailor  seemed 
equal  to  the  task  of  making  his  vests  capacious  enough, 
for  he  was  never  seen  in  one  that  was  not  split  down  the 
back.  But  his  shirts  and  trousers  were  impeccable  and  his 
boots  always  brushed. 

In  his  hotel  he  was  an  autocrat.  Though  his  house  was 
public  in  the  eyes  of  the  law,  there  were  people  he  would 
not  allow  to  set  foot  in  it,  and  he  had  ways  of  making  the 
local  law  agree  with  him.  It  was  his  pride  that  he  ran 
the  best  public  house  in  the  north  of  New  Zealand.  He 
sold  unadulterated  liquor  even  before  the  prohibition 
party  got  after  the  trade,  and  he  gave  the  best  shilling 
dinner  in  the  country.  He  was  famous  for  it.  He  never 
allowed  a  drunken  man  to  be  seen  leaving  his  house.  He 
had  two  rooms  beside  his  stables  at  the  back  with  cots  in 
them,  and  there  he  calmly  dumped  and  locked  up  the 
obstreperous  drinkers  till  they  should  be  able  to  walk 
off  without  attracting  the  attention  of  the  constable.  He 
felt  it  was  only  fair  to  keep  them  out  of  the  clutches  of  the 
law. 

Thomas  MacAlarney  rarely  spoke  to  a  woman  other 
than  his  servants,  whom  he  managed  himself.  Few  people 
suspected  that  he  was  mortally  afraid  of  the  sex  and  con- 
fused in  its  presence.  He  was  conscious  of  his  vocabulary* 
which  was  liable  to  be  unprintable  at  any  moment,  and 
having  but  little  knowledge  of  the  English  or  any  other 


THE  STRANGE  ATTRACTION  27 

language  apart  from  its  curses  and  violent  epithets  he 
was  not  equal  to  the  amenities  of  ordinary  conversation. 

He  had  an  uncanny  knowledge  of  all  that  went  on  un- 
der his  roof.  He  took  great  care  of  his  girls  and  men 
knew  it  was  not  safe  to  flirt  with  them.  The  newspaper 
committee  had  had  hard  work  to  persuade  him  to  take 
Valerie,  but  they  did  not  guess  his  real  reason  for  hesi- 
tancy, which  was  that  he  was  almost  certain  she  would 
not  be  comfortable.  It  solved  the  problem  a  little  to  have 
the  priest  on  one  side  of  her  and  Bob  on  the  other.  Other- 
wise he  would  have  felt  bound  to  leave  empty  the  rooms 
next  her.  But  at  the  end  of  a  week  he  was  easy  in  his 
mind.  He  knew  she  smoked  cigarettes  in  her  room,  that 
she  had  twice  ordered  ale  with  her  lunch,  that  Father 
Ryan  called  her  a  remarkable  woman,  that  she  gave  no 
trouble,  and  that  already  his  servants  adored  her. 


CHAPTER  HI 


IT  was  in  high  spirits  that  Valerie  set  off  the  next 
afternoon  with  Bob  to  walk  to  the  coast.  A  heavy 
thunderstorm  in  the  night  had  cleared  the  air  and 
set  the  dust,  and  a  breeze  had  swept  the  river  and  the 
town  of  the  haze  that  had  obscured  them  for  over  a  week. 
As  they  went  up  Queen  Street  she  looked  curiously  at  the 
banks,  the  land  offices,  the  law  offices,  the  Native  Land 
Court  building  and  Roger  Benton's  large  general  store 
all  bunched  together  near  River  Street,  and  beyond  them 
up  the  rise  at  the  houses  and  gardens  that  made  this  the 
aristocratic  thoroughfare. 

She  saw  that  the  whole  place  was  heat  worn.  The 
gardens  and  lawns  were  brown.  The  blistering  sun  had 
peeled  the  paint  off  the  white  walls.  There  were  no  large 
trees  anywhere,  but  only  shrubs  to  break  the  glare. 

When  they  had  gone  by  the  last  cottage  and  were  sur- 
rounded by  the  stunted  vegetation  on  the  flat  above 
Valerie  stopped,  looked  back  and  drew  a  long  breath. 
There  was  more  of  a  view  than  she  had  imagined.  She 
gazed  away  across  the  river,  over  the  miles  of  flax  and 
cabbage  trees  in  the  swamp  at  hills  and  valleys  girdled 
about  with  shadows.  There  were  hills  and  valleys  to  the 
south  and  hills  and  valleys  to  the  north,  all  checkered 
with  the  shapes  of  the  clouds  that  were  trailing  over  the 
face  of  the  sun.  To  the  east  and  south  she  saw  fields,  the 
glow  of  grain,  innumerable  specs  of  sheep  and  cattle,  the 
white  spots  of  houses,  the  red  roofs  of  barns,  water  towers, 
clumps  of  Scotch  firs,  green  spots  marking  the  sources  of 

28 


THE  STRANGE  ATTRACTION  29 

springs,  all  the  signs  of  a  prosperous  land,  but  she  liked 
better  the  uncertainty,  the  magic  and  mystery  that  the 
northern  hills  hid  beneath  their  wealth  of  bush. 

They  turned  their  faces  to  the  sea.  They  dropped 
into  little  dips  and  mounted  little  rises,  alternately  seeing 
and  losing  sight  of  the  sand-dunes  to  the  left  of  them  and 
the  reddish  white  cliffs  to  the  right.  There  was  not  a 
sizable  tree  to  be  seen  on  this  flatness  set  up  between  the 
river  and  the  ocean  till  you  came  to  the  hills  that  rose 
suddenly  out  of  it  on  the  north.  Nothing  but  pampas 
grass  and  fern  and  low  scrub  would  grow  on  its  niggardly 
soil. 

They  swung  along  happily,  startling  myriads  of  grass- 
hoppers and  small  brown  butterflies  that  lived  in  some 
miraculous  manner  upon  the  dead  sticks.  Soon  it  became 
harder  to  walk,  and  their  feet  sank  in  the  heavy  sand. 
And  the  air  was  now  filled  with  the  roar  of  the  sea. 

As  they  cleared  a  mound,  all  unexpectedly  glory  was 
spread  about  their  feet.  They  stood  at  the  head  of  an 
S-shaped  ravine  that  cut  into  the  coast-line,  dividing  a 
stretch  of  sand-hills  from  a  stretch  of  cliffs.  It  was  deep 
and  green  with  forest  trees  fed  from  a  spring  that  gushed 
out  at  its  head  to  fall  in  a  series  of  cataracts  on  to  a 
shallow  stony  bed,  and  so  out  across  the  beach  below.  In 
layers  between  the  dunes  and  the  cliffs  the  gap  was  striped 
with  low  sand-banks,  a  bit  of  white  beach,  a  narrow  line 
of  lazy  surf  and  a  stretch  of  azure  sea.  Coming  to  it 
thus  across  the  miles  of  hot  aridity,  the  gully  was  a  won- 
der of  coolness  and  vivid  colour  and  sweet  scents. 

The  road  dipped  suddenly  and  a  turn  showed  them  the 
first  waterfall.  Valerie  was  furious  to  see  iron  pipes  lead- 
ing from  it. 

"  Of  course  they  had  to  ruin  it?  "  she  exploded. 

Further    down    the    trees    met    above    them    and    they 


30  THE  STRANGE  ATTRACTION 

seemed  to  have  sunk  deep  into  a  green  nest  with  the  sountl 
of  the  waves  lowered  to  a  whisper  floating  away  over  their 
heads. 

"  Oh,  how  I  should  love  to  have  a  tent  down  here  and 
come  to  sleep.  Who  owns  it?  " 

"  Benton,  of  course.  He  owns  almost  everything  about 
Dargaville." 

Round  the  next  corner  they  saw  through  the  trees  a" 
little  way  off  a  row  of  five  small  cottages.  Anything  that 
stood  in  rows  annoyed  Valerie. 

"  The  fools,"  she  sneered.  "  Don't  they  see  enough  of 
each  other  in  the  town?  Good  heavens!  I  hope  we  are 
not  going  to  meet  them  all." 

"  I'm  afraid  we  are.  They  were  gathered  to  meet  me 
two  weeks  ago.  But  they  mean  to  be  kind." 

"  Damn  it,  Bob,  don't  talk  such  rot.  If  they  had  asked 
Miss  Hands  I  might  grant  that,  but  you  know  perfectly 
well  they  don't  mean  to  be  kind.  I  wouldn't  have  come 
if  I  had  thought  twice.  At  least  I'm  not  going  to  know 
here  anybody  I  don't  want  to  know.  I'm  not  going  to 
waste  time  that  way." 

Bob  grinned.  "  This  will  make  you  madder  still,  they 
all  think  you  and  I  are  engaged." 

"  Oh,  hell,  Bob,  what  does  it  matter  what  they  think?  " 

The}'  found  the  adult  population  of  the  gully  gathered 
on  the  Benton  verandah  and  at  the  mere  sight  of  them 
Valerie's  eyes  glared. 

"  Now,  Val,"  whispered  Bob,  "  do  be  decent.  The  poor 
devils  didn't  make  themselves." 

But  it  must  be  confessed  that  Valerie  behaved  badly. 
It  was  nothing  to  her  that  it  was  the  inner  circle  of 
Dargaville  that  was  lolling  languidly  there  on  deck  chairs 
consumed  with  a  curiosity  it  was  trying  not  to  show  about 
the  much  talked  of  daughter  of  Davenport  Carr.  She 


THE  STRANGE  ATTRACTION  31 

knew  well  enough  that  it  was  only  because  Bob  was  a 
bishop's  son  and  she  the  privileged  child  of  the  most  pow- 
erful family  in  the  Remuera  set  that  they  were  greeted 
with  the  effusive  and  deferential  politeness  that  so  irri- 
tated her.  She  was  furious  to  think  she  would  have  to 
sit  there  with  them  when  she  craved  to  be  on  the  beach. 

And  then  she  saw  as  she  sat  down  that  nearly  every 
woman  present  looked  as  soon  as  she  could  at  her  left 
hand  to  see  if  there  was  an  engagement  ring  upon  it. 
The  poor  souls  did  not  know  it  but  that  completed  their 
utter  nonentity  as  far  as  she  was  concerned.  She  did 
like  Mrs.  Benton,  who  was  a  very  attractive  woman,  but 
she  could  not  forgive  her  all  in  a  minute  for  imposing  the 
rest  of  Dargaville  upon  her.  Bob  did  his  level  best  to 
counteract  the  difficult  atmosphere  she  created,  and  he 
was  as  thankful  as  she  was  when  the  visitors  finally  rose 
to  go.  They  were  no  sooner  away  than  the  Benton  chil- 
dren invaded  the  verandah,  five  of  them,  and  Valerie  in- 
stantly became  another  person. 

"  Would  you  like  to  come  on  the  beach?  "  asked  Mar- 
jorie,  looking  up  at  her  confidently. 

"  Indeed  I  would.  That  is  just  what  I  have  been  wish- 
ing to  do  all  the  afternoon.  I  wonder  why  it  is  that  chil- 
dren and  dogs  are  the  only  things  that  ever  know  what  I 
want." 

"  Really,  Val,"  protested  Bob  indignantly. 

She  turned  to  Mrs.  Benton  with  an  irresistible  smile 
and  gesture.  "  Mrs.  Benton,  I've  been  abominably  rude. 
But  I  may  as  well  do  it  once  and  be  done  with  it.  I  loathe 
social  entertainment,  and  I  haven't  fought  my  family  for 
years  on  the  subject  to  come  here  and  begin  all  over 
again.  Of  course  you  have  to  be  nice  to  everybody.  That 
is  the  price  you  pay  for  being  married  to  a  parliamentary 
candidate.  But  I'm  not,  you  see." 


32  THE  STRANGE  ATTRACTION 

Mrs.  Benton  was  soothed  by  something  in  those  twin- 
kling blue  eyes,  and  though  astonished  was  flattered  at 
the  implication  that  she  was  not  damned  with  the  rest. 

Tommy  Benton  seized  Valerie  by  the  hand.  "  Do  you 
like  fires  on  the  beach  ?  "  he  asked. 

"  More  than  anything  in  the  world,"  she  said  warmly. 

"  Suppose  we  have  a  picnic  tea,"  suggested  Roger. 

"  Oh,  please  do,"  said  Valerie,  ^  if  it  will  not  be  too 
much  trouble." 

So  she  set  off  with  him  and  the  children,  leaving  BoE 
to  help  Mrs.  Benton.  Valerie  got  on  well  with  Roger  who 
was  predisposed  to  like  all  women,  especially  the  daring 
ones.  As  they  reached  the  sand-hills  she  caught  sight  of 
a  tent  roof  under  the  shade  of  trees  against  the  cliffs  to 
the  right.  It  was  well  isolated  from  the  rest  of  the  camp. 

"  A  tent,"  she  exclaimed,  stopping  suddenly.  "  Who 
lives  in  it  ?  " 

"  It  belongs  to  Barrington." 

"  Barrington!  What  Barrington?  "  She  tried  to  keep 
the  astonishment  she  instantly  felt  out  of  her  voice. 

"  Dane  Barrington,  the  writer."  He  looked  curiously 
at  her.  "  Do  you  know  him?  " 

"  I  have  not  met  him.  I  know  his  work,  of  course.  And 
dad  knows  him.  What  is  he  doing  here?  " 

"  He  lives  here,  that  is,  up  the  Wairoa.  Has  been  up 
here  about  a  year.  Lives  like  a  hermit."  He  saw  she 
was  enormously  interested. 

But  she  said  no  more,  and  just  then  they  came  out  upon 
the  open  beach.  The  ocean  washed  before  them  along 
an  unbroken  coast-line  for  more  than  fifty  miles,  and 
stretched  away  towards  the  Australian  shore  with  the 
glitter  of  the  afternoon  sun  still  hot  upon  it.  Valerie 
stretched  out  her  arms  and  began  to  run  and  shout  and 
gather  firewood  with  the  children.  They  had  a  fine  pile 


THE  STRANGE  ATTRACTION  33 

by  the  time  Mrs.  Benton  and  Bob  appeared  with  the  bas- 
kets. Both  Roger  and  his  wife  forgave  her  for  the  after- 
noon before  the  picnic  meal  was  over.  No  parents  could 
long  have  been  annoyed  with  a  girl  who  was  so  obviously 
delighted  with  their  children.  They  both  noticed  that  she 
.paid  very  little  attention  to  Bob. 

As  they  walked  back  to  the  gully  in  the  twilight  Valerie's 
mood  changed  again.  She  kept  looking  at  the  colours 
fading  out  of  the  sky,  and  when  they  turned  in  off  the 
beach  she  glanced  enviously  at  the  tent  snuggled  there 
and  now  lit  from  within  by  the  light  of  a  lamp.  She 
wanted  to  go  and  peep  through  the  flap,  wanted  desper- 
ately to  see  the  man  who  was  wise  enough  to  be  alone 
there.  But  it  was  a  stupid  world.  She  could  not  follow 
all  her  impulses. 

Roger  Benton  returned  to  Dargaville  with  her  and  Bob. 
While  the  two  men  talked  business  Valerie  mooned  along 
thinking  her  own  thoughts.  They  left  her  at  River  Street 
to  go  to  the  office.  She  was  in  no  mood  to  go  inside.  She 
wandered  along  the  flat  uninteresting  road  in  the  direction 
of  Aratapu.  She  was  not  in  the  least  ashamed  of  her 
rudeness  of  the  afternoon.  If  she  had  been  nice,  she  re- 
flected, invitations  to  dinner  would  have  been  the  result. 
In  the  end  these  people  would  have  learned  that  she  did 
not  want  to  have  anything  to  do  with  them.  She  cared 
nothing  for  the  fact  that  the  men  she  had  met  were  her 
bosses  on  the  paper.  What  they  paid  her  for  was  her 
work,  and  she  would  show  them  she  could  do  that.  And 
she  chuckled  to  think  that  because  her  father  had  lent 
them  money  they  would  have  to  take  her  as  they  found 
her. 

And  then  tHere  slipped  into  her  mind  the  picture  of  the 
tent  lit  from  within,  and  snuggled  against  the  cliffs.  She 
wondered  if  Dane  Barrington  ever  came  to  the  hotel. 


34  THE  STRANGE  ATTRACTION 


II 

Valerie  had  discovered  the  piano  the  day  after  her  ar- 
rival, but  it  was  not  till  two  evenings  after  she  had  been 
to  the  coast  that  she  had  the  leisure  to  try  it.  Nancy, 
her  chambermaid,  told  her  there  was  a  sitting-room  in 
front  of  the  hotel. 

"  Nobody  ever  sits  in  it,  miss,"  she  said. 

It  was  a  dreadful  room,  but  like  the  dining-room  it  was 
to  Valerie  so  ugly  that  it  was  funny.  She  went  at  once 
to  the  piano.  It  was  a  fairly  good  make  and  almost  new, 
but  it  was  out  of  tune  and  stiff  for  want  of  use.  She 
wondered  if  Mac  would  mind  her  playing.  As  a  compli- 
ment to  him  she  began  with  Irish  airs.  Soon  she  heard 
the  sounds  of  men's  voices  below,  beginning  diffidently, 
and  then  ringing  out  till  they  filled  the  house  with  the 
roar  of  a  strong  masculine  chorus.  She  gave  them  chan- 
tries and  drinking  songs,  and  found  there  was  some  re- 
sponse to  all. 

A  little  before  nine  o'clock  a  man  of  medium  height 
and  lazy  grace,  who  was  walking  towards  the  hotel,  paused 
to  listen  as  lines  from  one  of  his  favourite  songs  floated 
out  to  him.  "  Wrap  me  up  in  my  old  stable  jacket,  and 
say  a  poor  buffer  lies  low,  lies  low." 

Dane  Barrington  had  not  heard  that  song  for  years. 
It  gave  a  pleasant  lift  to  his  spirits  which  were  sadly  in 
need  of  elevation.  He  walked  in  and  stood  outside  the  bar 
door.  Men  were  gathered  there  and  half-way  up  the 
stairs. 

"  Who's  playing?  "  he  asked  someone. 

"Dunno." 

The  song  ended  and  after  a  moment  another  tune  be- 
gan. An  Englishman  leaning  against  the  post  at  the  foot 


THE  STRANGE  ATTRACTION  35 

of  the  stairwa}'  started  to  hum  it,  but  he  could  not  re- 
member the  words.  Moved  by  a  sudden  impulse  Dane 
mounted  a  few  steps  and  waited  for  Valerie  to  begin  the 
air  again.  Then  his  voice  rang  out  in  a  hushed  silence, 
"  Drink  to  me  only  with  thine  eyes,"  and  until  he  had 
finished  the  second  verse  there  was  not  a  sound  in  the 
house.  There  was  a  burst  of  applause  and  calls  for  more, 
but  he  shook  his  head,  slipped  down  the  stairs,  and  dis- 
appeared along  the  hall  looking  for  Mac  who  was  not 
about  the  bar. 

Thrilled  at  the  piano,  and  wondering  who  on  earth  had 
that  tenor  voice,  Valerie  had  begun  "  Come  into  the  Gar- 
den, Maud,"  and  was  grievously  disappointed  that  the 
voice  did  not  go  on.  She  played  one  more  old  English 
air,  but  the  company  below  had  drifted  back  to  the  bar, 
and  having  given  it  its  entertainment  she  turned  to  Bee- 
thoven. 

Dane  found  Mac  in  a  private  room  with  Doctor  Steele 
and  a  government  inspector. 

"  Who's  playing,  Mac?  "  he  asked. 

"  Miss  Carr,  I  guess." 

"Who's  she?" 

"Where  the  bloody  hell  have  you  been?  Davenport 
Carr's  girl,  you  know.  She's  come  to  the  News" 

"  Oh."     Dane  sat  down  and  ordered  whisky. 

"  Have  a  game?  "  asked  Mac. 

"  Yes,  presently."  He  held  his  head  as  if  he  were 
listening.  Michael  brought  in  the  drinks.  Dane's  atten- 
tion wandered.  He  stood  up. 

"  I  say,  that's  music.  I  want  to  listen  to  it  for  a 
while.  I'll  be  back." 

His  desertion  of  them  did  not  annoy  or  astonish  the 
men  left  behind. 

Dane  went  upstairs  to  Mac's  room  which  was  next  the 


36  THE  STRANGE  ATTRACTION 

sitting-room.  He  flung  himself  down  on  the  big  bed  witli 
his  right  arm  across  his  eyes  and  lay  still.  He  stayed 
there  till  Valerie  stopped  at  ten  o'clock.  He  heard  her  go 
off  along  the  hall.  He  wondered  if  she  were  staying  here. 
He  wondered  why  on  earth  a  daughter  of  Davenpo^Carr 
had  come  to  Dargaville  to  go  on  the  paper,  to  go  on  any 
paper  anywhere  when  she  could  play  like  that.  After  a 
minute  or  two  of  speculation  he  got  up  and  went  down- 
stairs. 

It  was  not  till  the  next  day  at  lunch  time  that  Valerie 
got  a  chance  to  ask  Michael  who  the  singer  was,  and  if 
there  was  anyone  in  the  place  who  could  tune  the  piano. 

That  evening  she  went  down  to  dinner  ahead  of  Bob. 
They  were  under  no  obligation  to  eat  at  the  same  time. 
She  was  hardly  seated  when  Mac  entered  the  room  and 
walked  up  to  her  table.  It  was  the  first  time  she  had 
seen  him  at  close  range.  She  smiled  up  at  him  rather 
uncertainly.  The  hard  light  in  his  eyes  did  not  change. 

"  Good-evening,  Mr.  MacAlarney,"  she  began  tenta- 
tively. 

"  Mr.  WHAT?  "  he  roared. 

Then  her  face  broke  into  the  smile  that  was  the  pass- 
key to  the  hearts  of  all  who  saw  it  light  up  that  way. 

"  Am  I  to  call  you  Mac?  " 

"  Well  you  bloody  well  do,  don't  you  ?  " 

"  It  is  easier,"  she  said  lightly,  not  in  the  least  dis- 
turbed by  his  superfluous  word. 

"  You  want  the  piano  tuned  ?  "  he  went  on  gruffly. 

"Well,  if  I  might  pay  - 

"  Damn  the  bloody  expense.  I'll  have  it  done  if  you 
want  it." 

"  You  don't  mind  my  playing?  " 

"  No.  Play  whenever  you  want  to."  And  without  an- 
other word  he  turned  and  walked  heavily  off. 


THE  STRANGE  ATTRACTION  37 

Valerie  decided  as  she  looked  after  him  that  thought 
his  manners  might  be  a  little  unsesthetic  she  would  not 
have  any  difficulty  with  his  spirit. 

She  found  him  equally  reasonable  when  she  approached 
him  on  the  subject  of  keeping  a  horse,  which  was  to  be  her 
only  luxury.  She  had  already  spoken  to  Roger  Benton 
about  one  he  was  willing  to  sell. 

Mac  talked  in  staccato  sentences  guarding  his  words. 

"  You'd  better  graze  it.  Just  give  it  a  feed  when  you 
ride  it.  It  can  go  in  my  paddock.  Two  bob  a  week. 
That's  my  charge.  Michael  will  fetch  it  when  you  want 
it.  Or  you  can  get  it  yourself.  You  can  pay  for  feeds 
as  you  get  'em.  Shilling  a  feed." 

"  And  if  I'm  out  late  may  I  put  it  in  the  stable  myself 
without  troubling  anybody?  " 

"  Any  bloody  time  you  want,"  he  said,  relapsing  into 
spontaneity. 


CHAPTER  IV 


BOB,   Valerie   and  Father   Ryan  lingered   at   their 
table  after  dinner.     There  were  only  two  other 
men  in  the  room.     The  priest  had  been  talking  of 
a  strange  family  he  had  visited  that  day  up  the  line. 

"  One  wonders  what  it  is  that  holds  such  people  to- 
gether," he  said. 

"  It's  because  they  are  tame,"  said  Valerie.  "  Fear  of 
the  unknown  and  lack  of  an  adventurous  spirit."  She 
nodded  down  the  room  at  Mac  who  came  in  as  she  was 
speaking  and  sat  down  at  his  table.  "  Do  you  think 
it's  religion? "  she  went  on  turning  again  to  Father 
Ryan. 

"  Well,  I  wouldn't  dogmatize  about  that,"  he  smiled. 

"  You  know,  you're  no  good  for  an  argument.  You 
never  come  out  and  say  anything  that  one  can  talk 
against." 

"  You  deprive  her  of  an  awful  lot  of  pleasure,"  grinned 
Bob. 

The  priest  smiled  into  her  pugilistic  eyes.  "  I'm  not  as 
sure  as  you  are  about  many  things,"  he  said  softly. 

Bob  chuckled. 

"  I'm  not  as  sure  as  I  seem,  but  it  amuses  me ' 

Bob  turned  his  head  to  see  what  had  stopped  her  so 
abruptly. 

A  man  had  entered  at  the  other  end  of  the  room  and 
had  sat  down  with  Mac.  His  appearance  in  the  most 
gilded  dining-room  in  the  world  would  have  been  arrest- 
ing. There  it  was  miraculous. 

38 


THE  STRANGE  ATTRACTION  39 

"  Is  that  Dane  Harrington?  "  asked  Valerie,  knowing 
that  it  was. 

"  Yes,"  Bob  answered. 

"  Have  you  met  him  ?  " 

"  I've  been  introduced  to  him." 

"  It's  funny  you  never  told  me  he  was  here." 

"  He  isn't  here.  He  lives  out  somewhere.  Comes  to  the 
pub  occasionally  to  gamble  and  drink." 

Her  eyes  flashed.  "  Dear  charitable  old  Bob,  so  sweet 
and  wholesome?  "  she  sneered. 

Bob  got  red. 

"  Now,  children,"  said  Father  Ryan,  spreading  out  his 
peaceful  hands.  "  Mr.  Barrington  would  tell  you  that 
no  man  was  worth  that  remark." 

"  Do  you  know  him,  Father?  "  she  asked. 

"  I  don't  think  anybody  knows  him." 

"  But  you  don't  judge  him  by  what  is  said  of  him?  " 

"  I've  nothing  to  do  with  judging  him." 

Valerie  shot  her  eyes  significantly  intensified  at 
Bob. 

He  got  up  to  go. 

"  I'm  going  to  have  another  cup  of  coffee,"  she  said. 
"  Oh,  you  needn't  stay,  Bob.  Are  you  going  off  to  the 
Bentons  right  away?  " 

"  Yes,  I  am." 

"  All  right.  Good-night.  You'll  be  back  Monday 
morning?  " 

"  Yes."  Bob  strode  out  of  the  dining-room  annoyed 
with  himself  for  being  angry  about  nothing. 

Father  Ryan  made  a  move  to  rise. 

"  Oh,  stay  and  talk  to  me,"  said  Valerie,  beckoning  to 
Lizzie.  "  I'll  have  another  cup  of  coffee,  please.  It's  just 
silly,"  she  went  on  as  the  girl  moved  away,  "  that  one  man 
should  judge  another  on  hearsay." 


40  THE  STRANGE  ATTRACTION 

She  was  staring  frankly  now  at  Dane  Barrington.  Be- 
side Mac  he  looked  like  a  boy.  Mac  was  a  canvas  in 
heroic  size  daubed  in  freely  in  splotches  of  red  and  gray. 
Dane  was  an  etching  in  black  and  white,  as  vivid  as  a 
silhouette,  as  delicate  as  a  drawing  by  Whistler.  She  was 
rather  pleased  with  this  comparison,  and  she  felt  a  keener 
sense  of  life  as  she  looked  at  his  fine  black  head  and  ala- 
baster profile  outlined  there  beside  Mac's  great  ruby  face. 

She  turned  amused  eyes  on  Father  Ryan's  placid  fea- 
tures. 

"  My  old  set  ostracizes  that  man.  Speaks  of  him  with 
bated  breath.  But  I  don't  feel  contaminated  by  his  pres- 
ence. Do  you?  " 

"  Not  in  the  least.  He  has  never  hurt  anybody  half 
as  much  as  he  is  hurting  himself." 

"  That's  it,  and  I  have  no  doubt  that  as  a  sinner  he 
has  been  absurdly  overrated.  As  a  matter  of  fact  this 
rubbish  about  sin,  this  idea  of  what  can  hurt  one  is  one  of 
the  most  ridiculous  things  that  can  be  told  to  a  thinking 
person.  The  real  sins,  the  real  corroders  of  souls  are 
overlooked.  People  are  not  ostracized  for  overeating,  but 
from  my  point  of  view,  if  you're  going  to  ostracize  at  all, 
they  ought  to  be.  They  are  not  ostracized  for  prying 
into  your  personality,  but  they  ought  to  be.  They  are 
not  ostracized  for  whispering  behind  doors,  but  they 
ought  to  be.  They  are  not  ostracized  for  grumbling  and 
nagging  and  opening  other  people's  letters,  but  they  ought 
to  be.  Those  are  the  things  I'm  out  to  ostracize  people 
for." 

She  glared  at  Father  Ryan. 

"  You  and  I  will  not  quarrel  about  that,"  he  said  sim- 

piy- 

"  I  don't  suppose  Mr.  Barrington  is  a  bit  worse  tKan 
my  father,"  she  said  musingly. 


THE  STRANGE  ATTRACTION  41 

This  frankness  surprised  the  priest,  who  had  heard  the 
current  rumours  of  Davenport  Carr. 

"  Well,  I  take  men  as  I  find  them,"  he  went  on  gently. 
"  Mr.  Barrington  is  a  man  of  contradictions.  But  he  is 
more  at  war  with  himself  than  anyone  else  need  ever  be 
with  him.  The  man  I  would  be  afraid  of  would  be  the 
man  who  accepted  himself  without  a  fight,  or  the  world 
without  a  fight." 

"  Ah,"  she  patted  his  arm,  her  eyes  flashing,  *'  that's 
it.  That's  it." 

"  And  he  is  a  generous  man,  though  he  would  not  admit 
it.  He  gave  me  fifty  pounds  last  week  for  a  wretched 
family  that  has  tuberculosis.  And  when  he  handed  it  to 
me  he  said,  '  Ryan,  this  isn't  Christianity,  it's  damned 
foolishness,  and  you  know  it  as  well  as  I  do.  If  we  had  a 
grain  of  sense  we'd  have  prevented  those  people  being 
born,  or  once  born  we'd  chloroform  them.  What  the 
devil  have  they  got  to  live  for?  This  money  will  only 
feed  their  diseases.  But  you  can  have  it  on  your  con- 
science. I've  enough  on  mine.' ' 

Valerie  threw  back  her  head  and  let  out  a  peal  of  laugh- 
ter that  surprised  the  four  men  eating  in  the  dining-room. 

"  That's  Miss  Carr,  I  suppose,"  said  Dane  to  Mac,  who 
nodded. 

"  Father  Ryan  must  have  been  telling  her  a  good  joke," 
he  added. 

II 

Valerie  had  meant  to  play  the  piano  that  evening,  but 
she  felt  self-conscious  now  with  Dane  in  the  hotel.  She 
stood  uncertainly  in  her  room  for  some  minutes.  She  had 
not  changed  for  dinner,  she  seldom  did,  as  she  usually 
went  back  to  the  office.  She  wore  a  dark  linen  dress  with 
:a  little  white  at  the  pointed  neck.  She  solemnly  surveyed 


42  THE  STRANGE  ATTRACTION; 

what  she  could  see  of  herself  in  her  mirror,  and  then  she 
turned  and  went  hatless  down  the  side  stairs  and  out  to 
the  river.  The  venom  had  now  gone  out  of  the  heat,  and 
the  night  was  balmy  and  soft.  She  strolled  along  towards 
the  centre  of  the  town.  At  Queen  Street  she  paused.  She 
wondered  if  Dane  Barrington  were  going  back  to  the  coast 
that  night,  and  whether  if  she  took  that  road  she  would 
meet  him.  She  turned  up  a  few  yards,  but  then  abruptly 
swung  round  and  went  on  past  the  town  wharf,  the  office, 
the  railway  wharf,  and  on  towards  the  northern  hills. 

She  had  discovered  four  main  roads  leading  out  of 
Dargaville.  One  that  she  did  not  care  for  ran  south 
along  the  Wairoa  to  Aratapu.  The  second  was  the  camp 
road.  The  third  went  off  across  the  flat  in  a  northwest- 
erly direction  towards  the  forest  and  Kaihu,  touching  the 
railway  here  and  there,  and  the  fourth,  the  one  she  now 
explored,  ran  due  north  by  the  river. 

About  two  miles  from  the  town  she  came  to  a  wooded 
point  and  saw  the  beginnings  of  a  track  trailing  off  into 
it.  She  could  never  resist  a  track,  so  she  walked  on 
through  a  bit  of  mixed  bush  that  ended  in  a  picturesque 
point  and  a  rock  projecting  high  over  the  water  like  a 
lookout.  From  it  she  got  a  fine  view  across  the  Wairoa 
of  valleys  filmed  with  indigo-tinted  mist,  and  of  bush-clad 
ranges  outlined  on  the  horizon  like  the  coasts  on  a  map 
with  undulating  layers  of  pigeon  gray  and  rose  fading 
off  into  a  luminous  opaline  sky. 

She  threw  herself  down  with  delight  at  finding  a  retreat 
like  this  so  near  the  town.  As  she  sat,  the  little  black 
steamer  that  ran  between  Dargaville  and  all  wharves  up 
to  Tangiteroria  came  chugging  down  on  the  evening  tide, 
and  a  small  launch  went  racing  by.  She  wished  she  could 
afford  a  boat.  She  wanted  to  go  to  the  beginnings  of  the 
river  in  remote  hills  and  lonely  places.  There  was  some- 


THE  STRANGE  ATTRACTION  43 

thing  fascinating  aKout  seeing  a  little  trickle  of  water 
grow  and  grow  till  it  could  carry  an  ocean-going  ship. 
She  loved  the  places  that  rivers  came  from,  the  mangrove 
swamps  they  cut  across,  the  lagoons  they  sneaked  out  of, 
the  gullies  they  watered. 

Her  thoughts  were  interrupted  by  the  sound  of  foot- 
steps coming  along  the  track.  Before  she  could  move  a 
man  slipped  out  of  the  bush,  and  in  the  dusk  she  saw  his 
slight  boyish  figure  above  her  and  his  white  face  framed 
in  his  soft  black  hair. 

"  Oh,  I  beg  your  pardon,"  he  said  quickly  and  resent- 
fully, not  seeing  who  it  was,  and  thinking  he  had  surprised 
a  pair  of  lovers.  Before  she  could  speak  he  turned  and 
was  gone. 

Valerie  could  not  bring  her  mind  back  to  the  river  and 
the  birds.  She  began  to  think  of  Dane  Barrington. 

She  was  fifteen  when  she  had  first  read  an  article  by 
him  in  the  Sydney  Bulletin.  That  was  ten  years  ago  and 
since  that  time  he  had  become  the  finest  critical  writer, 
and  one  of  the  best  writers  of  stories  and  verse  in  the 
colonies,  and  was  generally  acknowledged  to  be  the  best 
all-round  journalist  in  Australasia.  He  was  an  Austra- 
lian, born  in  Sydney,  and  even  before  he  achieved  a  repu- 
tation as  a  writer  he  had  achieved  one  on  his  looks  and 
fascination.  Almost  every  well-known  Sydney  artist  had 
painted  him  or  drawn  him.  A  black  and  white  drawing 
of  his  head  by  Norman  Lindsay  had  been  the  feature  of 
one  winter's  exhibition,  and  had  been  reproduced  in  pa- 
pers and  magazines.  As  a  girl  of  seventeen  Valerie  had 
come  across  a  print  of  it  and  had  cut  it  out  and  pasted 
it  in  a  little  book  with  heads  of  Byron  and  Shelley,  and 
Keats  and  Napoleon  and  Caesar,  and  other  dramatic  he- 
roes of  her  adolescent  passions.  She  still  had  that  little 
book. 


.44  THE  STRANGE  'ATTRACTION 

Then  Dane  Barrington  had  figured  as  co-respondent 
in  a  divorce  case  that  rocked  the  city  of  Sydney  and 
spread  ripples  of  luscious  scandal  to  the  dinner-tables  of 
New  Zealand.  Nothing  but  the  bare  announcement  of  the 
affair  appeared  in  the  press,  and  when  he  afterwards  mar- 
ried the  woman  concerned  the  talk  died  down.  Articles 
and  verse  from  his  pen  appeared  at  intervals,  and  Valerie 
read  everything  he  wrote  with  a  strange  feeling  that  he 
was  writing  for  her.  Then  she  heard  at  a  dinner  in  her 
home  one  night  that  he  had  left  Sydney  and  had  come  to 
live  in  New  Zealand,  at  Christchurch.  And  there  was  a 
whisper  that  he  and  his  wife  did  not  get  on.  Because  of 
his  magnetic  looks  rumour  could  not  let  him  alone.  He 
was  one  of  those  men  who  accumulate  publicity  without 
any  personal  effort.  Then  again  came  the  bare  announce- 
ment in  the  press  that  his  wife  had  divorced  him  and  had 
returned  to  Australia.  The  name  of  the  lady  concerned 
this  time  was  suppressed. 

The  colonies  will  stand  one  divorce,  and  if  the  details 
are  not  too  unpleasant,  will  suspend  judgment  and  give 
the  parties  a  chance.  But  two  divorces  inside  of  four 
years  strain  their  charity.  And  when  not  long  afterwards 
Dane  Barrington  was  blackballed  out  of  the  best  club  in 
Christchurch  every  door,  save  those  of  a  few  newspaper 
men,  was  closed  to  him.  Nothing  as  to  this  final  blow 
appeared  in  the  press,  so  that  lovers  of  scandal  drew  all 
the  more  upon  the  inexhaustible  resources  of  their  imagi- 
nation. Dane  Barrington  himself  would  have  been 
amazed  to  discover  that  the  mere  mention  of  his  name 
conjured  up  in  the  breasts  of  the  pure  pictures  of  de- 
pravity that  it  would  have  taxed  his  own  powers  to  depict. 

Valerie  had  learned  next  that  Dane  had  come  up  to 
Auckland  and  that  her  father  had  met  him.  For  some 
time  after  that  his  name  did  not  appear  in  print.  But 


THE  STRANGE  ATTRACTION  45 

Rumour  knew  all  about  him.  He  was  drinking  himself  to 
death  on  the  gumfields,  that  El  Dorado  of  lost  men. 

Then  after  a  year  of  silence  his  stories  and  articles  and 
verse  began  to  appear  again  as  good  as  ever.  One  night 
a  discussion  of  something  he  had  written  began  among 
men  sitting  with  her  father  after  dinner,  and  the  talk 
drifted  to  the  man  himself,  and  to  the  circumstances  of 
his  banishment,  and  she  gathered  that  no  one  present  be- 
lieved the  tales. 

"  Well,  he  was  a  damned  fool  not  to  fight  it,"  she  heard 
her  father  say.  "  There's  no  sense  in  being  sensitive  about 
things  like  that." 

Most  of  her  relatives,  however,  banned  his  name  from 
general  conversation,  but  they  had  long  since  taken  the 
meaning  out  of  language  for  Valerie.  She  herself  had 
ceased  to  be  a  lady  so  often  that  it  did  not  disturb  her  to 
hear  a  man  had  ceased  to  be  a  gentleman.  She  merely 
wondered  what  fine  adventure  he  had  been  up  to. 

And  then  there  was  her  own  father.  He  had  been  the 
most  illuminating  experience  in  her  life.  It  seemed  funny 
to  her  that  Dane  Barrington  should  be  an  outcast  while 
her  father  sat  in  the  seats  of  the  mighty.  Of  course  he 
had  been  clever  enough  and  wealthy  enough  to  keep  out 
of  divorce  cases. 

And  now  this  strange  being  who  had  been  a  kind  of 
phantom  flitting  in  and  out  of  her  dreams  for  years,  was 
here  somewhere,  to  be  actually  seen  in  the  flesh,  to  be 
encountered  unawares  on  the  roads,  to  give  a  sense  of  ad- 
venture to  an  evening  stroll. 

Seeing  his  head  as  it  had  appeared  for  a  moment  against 
the  dusk  of  the  trees  it  was  hard  to  think  he  was  anything 
but  a  phantom,  and  if  it  had  not  been  for  the  memory  of 
his  vibrant  voice,  that  said  "  I  beg  your  pardon  "  over 
and  over  again  in  her  brain,  she  would  have  thought  she 


46  THE  STRANGE  ATTRACTION 

had  seen  a  vision.  She  got  up  wondering  why  he  had 
come  that  way.  Had  he  walked  from  the  town  just  to 
get  the  view  from  that  point?  In  any  case,  he  knew  it 
and  wanted  something  from  it  and  he  had  been  irritated 
to  find  an  interloper  there.  She  would  have  felt  just  the 
same.  When  she  reached  the  road  there  was  no  sign  of 
him.  He  had  been  swallowed  up  in  the  night. 


Ill 

Valerie  looked  out  of  her  window  at  the  river  the  next 
morning  and  revolted  swiftly  and  completely  against  the 
idea  of  work. 

"  I'll  do  it  to-night,"  she  said  to  herself. 

"  Lizzie,  would  it  be  possible  for  me  to  have  a  few  sand- 
wiches? I  want  to  take  my  lunch  and  go  off  for  a  picnic. 
I  could  make  them  here  at  the  table  if  I  could  have  some 
cold  meat."  She  looked  up  at  the  waitress  with  a  half- 
humorous,  half-pleading  appeal,  as  if  she  knew  she  were 
asking  an  outrageous  thing  but  could  not  help  it. 

"  Why,  I  will  make  you  some  sandwiches,  miss.  It 
isn't  a  busy  morning.  There's  some  nice  cold  beef,  and 
do  you  like  tomato  sauce  on  it?  " 

"  Yes,  I  do.  That's  fine.  And  ask  Michael  to  get  me 
a  bottle  of  ale." 

She  turned  to  Father  Ryan. 

"  I'm  going  to  play  truant,"  she  said  gleefulty,  "  and 
have  a  lovely  day  all  to  myself.  I  get  awfully  sick  of 
people,  don't  you?  " 

"  One  needs  a  rest  from  them,  I  think,  to  restore  one's 
forces." 

"  Well,  it's  more  than  that.    I  like  myself." 

"  You  have  every  reason  to,  I'm  sure,"  he  smiled  gal- 
lantly. 


THE  STRANGE  ATTRACTION  47 

**  Oh,  I  don't  mean  to  be  conceited." 

"No,  no,  I  understand." 

With  her  lunch  and  her  ale  and  George  Moore's  Esther 
Waters  tied  up  in  a  package,  Valerie  set  off  a  little  after 
ten  o'clock.  She  had  on  a  plain  serge  dress  and  a  cloth 
hat,  and  carried  a  hooked  stick.  Beyond  the  station  she 
had  the  world  to  herself,  and  as  she  walked  she  whistled 
and  whisked  the  heads  off  the  monkey  grass.  She  went 
by  the  point  she  had  discovered  the  night  before,  and  a 
mile  further  on  found  herself  climbing  into  hiHs.  Pres- 
ently she  stopped  at  the  top  of  a  low  range  to  look  down 
upon  an  old  house  buried  in  trees  on  a  point  below  her. 

"  Oh,  how  lovely,"  she  said  under  her  breath,  with  a 
quick  lifting  of  her  spirits,  as  if  she  had  just  caught  a 
glimpse  of  the  sea  at  the  end  of  a  long  valley. 

She  could  see  only  the  red  roof  and  two  brick  chimneys, 
from  one  of  which  a  column  of  smoke  rose  lazily  in  the 
warm  air.  By  the  size  of  the  pines  and  poplars  that 
mingled  with  the  native  bush  to  make  a  wall  about  it  she 
gathered  that  it  had  been  built  by  an  early  settler.  Any- 
way it  had  a  charming  old-world  air  like  that  of  some 
deserted  mission  station.  Removed  from  the  house  a  little 
she  saw  patches  of  colour  and  fresh  light  greens  that 
looked  like  vegetables,  and  across  the  road  she  saw  in  a 
clearing  a  cow  and  a  horse. 

She  walked  slowly  down  the  dusty  slope,  breathing  in 
the  cool  of  the  heavy  bush  on  either  side,  till  she  came 
to  an  old  post  and  rail  fence  buried  in  great  geranium 
bushes  and  old  briars  and  moss  roses,  that  honeyed  the 
air  with  the  sweetness  of  their  leaves.  Convolvulus  crept 
about  everywhere,  and  stretches  of  periwinkle  formed  a 
carpet  back  into  the  trees.  But  she  could  see  no  sign  of 
the  house.  It  was  barricaded  from  view  many  times  over 
by  shrubs  and  bush  and  pines.  Set  back  in  the  hedge 


48  THE  STRANGE  ATTRACTION 

she  came  upon  a  moss-covered  wooden  gate,  and  for  a 
moment  the  glory  of  the  place  was  spoiled  for  her  by  the 
menacing  notice  that  was  nailed  to  it :  "  No  Admittance. 
Beware  of  the  Dogs." 

The  neglected  driveway  inside  turned  and  twisted 
among  the  trees,  but  in  spite  of  that  inhospitable  warning 
the  whole  place  had  a  seductive  air  of  peace.  Fantails 
fluttered  about  it  unafraid  of  the  invisible  dogs,  and  a 
million  bees  thrived  among  the  mingled  scents.  Wood 
pigeons  flew  over  her  head,  and  as  she  stood  still  a  cock 
pheasant  nervously  trailed  his  beauty  across  the  road  a 
little  way  off. 

Regretfully  Valerie  moved  on,  wondering  who  on  earth 
lived  there.  Coming  to  a  track  leading  towards  the  river 
she  followed  it,  and  found  herself  on  a  point  the  next 
beyond  that  on  which  the  old  house  stood.  She  could  see 
nothing  of  it  even  from  here,  but  she  could  see  the  steps 
cut  down  the  rocky  face  to  a  little  landing  where  a  small 
boat  was  tied  outside  a  boathouse.  Between  the  two 
points  the  river  widened  in  an  arc-shaped  bay,  rock-bound 
and  overhung  by  lovely  mixed  bush.  The  water  in  it  was 
clearer  than  that  of  the  main  stream  and  it  was  very  still 
and  cool.  She  investigated  her  own  point,  found  a  hollow 
where  she  could  lean  back,  and  for  some  time  mooned  in 
a  peaceful  sensuousness  listening  to  birds  and  the  wash 
of  the  tide,  and  staring  up  through  the  green  elegance  of 
a  titoki  at  clouds  that  dissolved  into  puffs  and  melted 
away  in  the  vivid  blue. 

Her  dreaming  was  disturbed  by  the  sound  of  a  launch. 
She  listened,  envying  the  person  who  was  racing  down  the 
river.  As  the  sound  grew  sharp  she  stood  up  and  looked 
over  the  top  of  a  bush.  Then  seeing  that  the  boat  was 
heading  straight  for  her  point  she  ducked  quickly,  and 
peered  out  cautiously  as  it  went  by  into  the  little  bay. 


THE  STRANGE  ATTRACTION  49 

It  was  a  white  launch  of  fine  lines,  with  a  broad  band  of 
scarlet  round  it  just  below  the  gunwale.  She  could  make 
out  the  name  Diana  near  the  bow.  There  was  only  one 
person  in  it  and  she  recognized  him  immediately,  despite 
the  fact  that  his  dark  head  was  almost  hidden  under  a 
slouch  hat. 

Very  much  alive  now,  she  watched  him  make  for  the 
boathouse.  Half-way  across  the  little  bay  he  turned  his 
head  suddenly,  looking  straight  where  she  crouched.  She 
ducked  again,  hoping  he  had  not  seen  her.  She  saw  him 
run  the  launch  into  the  shed,  shut  the  doors,  go  up  the 
steps  and  vanish  in  the  trees.  She  wondered  if  anyone 
lived  there  with  him.  She  wondered  if  he  were  now  back 
from  the  coast  for  good.  She  wondered  if  it  was  from  this 
peaceful  place  that  he  had  been  for  the  past  year  sending 
out  the  fine  stories  of  lost  men  that  had  been  among  the 
best  things  he  had  ever  done. 

As  she  speculated  she  raised  her  head,  listening.  Be- 
fore she  could  get  to  her  feet  the  figure  of  a  Chinese  boy 
cleared  the  bushes.  She  stared  at  him  in  amazement  for 
a  second.  Then  she  remembered  that  one  of  the  things 
accounted  to  Dane  Barrington  for  a  suspiciously  exces- 
sive love  of  luxury  was  the  fact  that  he  kept  Chinese 
servants. 

"  Please,  miss,  you  trespass,"  said  the  boy,  bowing  low. 

"  Trespass,"  she  repeated  quickly  getting  to  her  feet. 

"  Yes,  miss.     You  please  to  go  away." 

Just  for  a  minute  she  was  furious,  and  the  boy's  eyes 
fell  before  hers. 

"  Whose  land  is  this?  "  she  unnecessarily  demanded. 

"  It  is  Meester  Barrington,  miss." 

"Did  he  send  you?" 

"  Yes,  miss."  * 

Her  eyes  gleamed.    "  All  right.    You  give  Mr.  Barring- 


50  THE  STRANGE  ATTRACTION 

ton  a  message  from  me.  My  name  is  Valerie  Carr.  You 
hear  it?  Valerie  Carr.  Tell  him  that,  and  tell  him  I  think 
he  is  the  meanest  man  I  ever  heard  of,  the  meanest  man. 
You  say  that." 

The  boy's  impassive  face  was  raised  to  hers. 

"  He  not  like  the  people  who  make  a  picnic,  miss,"  he 
said  gravely. 

"  I  understand,  but  you  tell  him  what  I  said." 

She  took  up  her  things  and  followed  him  out  to  the 
road. 

"  How  far  does  his  land  go?  "  she  asked. 

"  There,  to  that  big  tree,  miss,"  he  pointed. 

"  I  see.  Be  sure  you  tell  him  what  I  said,  and  my  name, 
Valerie  Carr,"  and  she  walked  on. 

She  was  not  angry  now.  She  was  amused  and  excited. 
If  the  boy  gave  Dane  her  message  she  knew  that  he  would 
be  bound  to  tender  her  some  kind  of  apology.  She  wan- 
dered on  wondering  if  he  would  and  how  he  would  do  it. 
Then  she  resettled  herself  on  the  bank  of  the  river  a  mile 
further  on,  and  tried  to  forget  the  incident.  But  it  kept 
intruding  itself  upon  the  pages  of  Esther  Waters  and 
upon  her  rambling  thoughts.  The  only  time  she  was  really 
oblivious  of  it  was  when  for  two  hours  she  lay  asleep. 

Later  in  the  afternoon  she  crossed  the  road  and  climbed 
a  hill  by  a  rough  track.  There  was  a  fine  view  from  the 
top,  and  she  ate  her  remaining  sandwiches  and  stayed 
there  till  the  sun  dropped  out  of  sight  behind  her.  It  was 
dusk  when  she  reached  Dane  Barrington's  retreat.  She 
lingered  along  by  the  old  buried  fence  listening  for  sounds 
from  within.  She  wondered  again  if  anybody  but  his 
servants  lived  there  with  him.  She  craved  to  go  in,  defy- 
ing the  notice  at  the  gate.  She  thought  it  the  most  seduc- 
tive place  she  had  ever  found  beside  a  lonely  road. 

It  was  seven  when  she  reached  the  News  office  with  three 


THE  STRANGE  ATTRACTION  51 

or  four  hours'  work  ahead  of  her.  Reluctantly  she  went 
in,  drank  a  long  draught  of  water  to  wake  her  up,  and 
settled  down  to  her  evening's  work. 


IV 

When  Dane  Barrington  entered  his  house  from  the 
launch  that  morning  he  struck  a  little  gong. 

"  Lee,"  he  said  to  the  Chinese  boy  who  appeared  in- 
stantly in  the  hall  doorway,  "  there  are  some  people  pic- 
nicking on  my  point.  Go  and  tell  them  they  are  trespass- 
ing, and  that  they  have  to  clear  out.  God  damn  them, 
there  are  plenty  of  places  for  them  to  go  to." 

He  turned  back  through  a  French  door  to  a  broad 
verandah,  that  ran  most  of  the  way  round  the  house.  On 
this  side,  that  nearest  the  river,  it  was  furnished  in  two 
sections  for  living  and  sleeping  with  a  bare  space  between, 
where  steps  came  up  from  the  path.  The  sleeping  end 
was  at  the  front  against  the  side  wall  of  a  large  study.  It 
was  screened  on  two  sides  by  heavy  canvas  curtains  now 
drawn  up  almost  to  the  roof.  Besides  the  cot  there  was  a 
plain  table  littered  with  books  and  magazines  and  an 
Italian  stool  upholstered  in  worn  red  tapestry.  An  In- 
dian rug,  much  worn,  in  shades  of  red  and  blue  covered 
the  floor  for  the  length  of  the  bed.  Opposite  the  steps  and 
making  with  them  a  passage  between  the  sections  was  a 
French  door  opening  into  the  room  beyond. 

The  living  end  was  comfortably  furnished  with  a  spe- 
cially made  wide  hammock  of  white  canvas,  two  low  chairs 
upholstered  in  dull  red  rep,  a  footstool  covered  with  the 
same  material,  a  couple  of  old  carved  English  chests,  a 
solid  mahogany  reading  table  with  a  pile  of  books  on  it, 
and  a  beautiful  small  table  of  vermilion  lacquer  decorated 
with  black  dragons.  The  hammock  was  loaded  with  red 


52  THE  STRANGE  ATTRACTION 

silk  cushions,  and  a  fine  possum  rug  lined  witH  dull  reo! 
cloth  was  doubled  across  the  foot  of  it.  Another  such 
rug  lay  on  one  of  the  chests.  The  small  table  had  on  it  a 
fine  Chinese  enamel  jar  used  for  tobacco,  a  cigarette  box 
of  bronze,  and  a  tortoise-shell  cigarette  case  inlaid  with 
mother-of-pearl.  The  two  floor  rugs  were,  like  the  one  by 
the  bed,  of  old  Indian  work,  with  faded  flowers  trailing 
along  a  strong  red  ground.  The  predominance  of  this 
colour  everywhere  warmed  up  the  gray  unpainted  floor  and 
the  weather-beaten  walls.  From  this  section  of  the  veran- 
dah three  French  doors  opened  into  one  large  room  with 
the  windows  at  present  shaded  by  silk  curtains,  the  colour 
of  burnished  copper. 

Dane  leaned  down  to  caress  two  Airedale  terriers  that 
stood  looking  expectantly  up  at  him.  Then  he  told  them 
to  lie  down.  They  watched  him  as  he  got  into  the  ham- 
mock with  the  grace  of  a  woman,  and  then  they  settled 
obediently  on  the  floor  underneath  him.  Dane  drew  be- 
side him  the  scarlet  table,  lit  a  cigarette,  searched  among 
the  cushions  for  a  book,  a  volume  of  plays  by  Chekov 
which  he  had  left  there,  and  finding  it,  fixed  the  pillows  at 
a  comfortable  height  and  began  to  read. 

After  a  short  time  Lee  rose  up  beside  him  like  a  mush- 
room. 

"  What  is  it?  "  There  was  a  trace  of  irritation  in  his 
voice. 

"  The  lady  tell  me  to  give  you  a  message,  Meester  Bar- 
rington." 

"Lady?     What  lady?" 

"  The  lady  who  trespass." 

"  Oh  well,  what?     Was  it  only  one  lady?  " 

"  Yes,  sir.  And  she  very  angry.  She  say  to  tell  you 
she  is  Valerie  Carr.  She  say  it  many  times  and  she 
say » 


THE  STRANGE  ATTRACTION  53 

"  Oh  damnation !  Confound  it !  Well,  what  else  did  she 
say?  " 

"She  say " 

"  Go  on,  Lee.  Don't  be  afraid.  I'm  not  going  to  blame 
you  for  what  she  said." 

"  She  say  you  the  meanest  man  she  ever  know.  She 
tell  me  tell  you  that." 

Dane  laughed  suddenly.  "  She  did,  did  she?  Good  for 
her.  Which  way  did  she  go  ?  " 

"Along  the  road,  that  way,"  he  pointed. 

"All  right,  thanks,  Lee." 

The  boy  glided  into  the  house. 

Dane  lay  indecisively  for  a  few  minutes.  Then  with  a 
wriggle  of  impatience  he  dragged  himself  out  of  the  ham- 
mock, slouched  off  the  verandah  waving  back  his  dogs,  and 
went  round  the  house  and  down  his  grass-grown  drive  to 
the  road.  He  went  on  past  his  boundary  expecting  that 
Valerie  would  have  turned  in  at  the  next  attractive  point 
on  the  river.  He  explored  it,  but  found  no  trace  of  her. 
He  stood  where  there  was  a  long  stretch  of  road  visible 
but  she  was  nowhere  to  be  seen.  He  walked  another 
quarter  of  a  mile,  and  finding  no  sign  of  her  he  turned 
grossly  back,  angry  at  her  now  for  disturbing  his  morning. 

At  nine  that  night,  intent  on  her  books  in  the  silent 
office,  Valerie  heard  steps  pause  on  the  clay  sidewalk  out- 
side. Then  she  heard  the  door  open  without  a  knock. 
She  wondered  if  Bob  had  got  back  sooner  than  he  expected. 
She  swung  round  in  her  chair  to  see  Dane  Barrington 
moving  round  the  corner  of  the  counter.  He  was  without 
a  hat  and  as  she  looked  up  at  him  her  eyes  were  arrested 
by  the  glitter  of  the  gaslight  for  a  second  on  the  eyes  of  a 
green  snake  curved  over  the  top  of  a  black  stick  he  car- 
ried. She  almost  thought  the  thing  alive. 

He. stood  easily  before  her  for  a  little  before  he  spoke. 


54  THE  STRANGE  ATTRACTION 


are  Valerie  Carr  ?  "  he  began  unceremoniously. 

"  I  am,"  but  the  glint  of  amusement  faded  quickly  from 
her  eyes,  and  without  knowing  why,  she  got  to  her  feet 
and  faced  him. 

He  went  on  at  once  with  a  cool  detached  manner  that 
she  felt  was  assumed. 

"  I  didn't  know  it  was  you  I  was  turning  off  my  land 
this  morning.  The  last  person  in  the  world  I  should  wish 
to  be  inhospitable  to  would  be  a  daughter  of  Dave  Carr. 
But  I  do  detest  picnickers  messing  up  my  place." 

Valerie  found  her  tongue.  "  I  wouldn't  have  messed  up 
anything,"  she  retorted.  "  There's  no  person  on  earth 
who  has  more  respect  for  a  beautiful  spot  than  I  have  !  " 

"Well,  how  could  I  know  that?"  His  brilliant  eyes 
glared  at  her.  "  And  anyway,  my  dear  girl,  surely  a  man 
has  a  right  to  one  spot  on  this  earth  where  he  can  feel 
himself  alone,  really  alone." 

"  I  grant  you  that  right,"  she  cut  in  curtly,  aggrieved 
at  his  manner.  "  I  assure  you  your  aloofness  is  in  no 
danger  from  me.  I  didn't  know  it  was  your  place." 

Then  she  saw  instantly  that  he  misunderstood  her,  that 
something  in  her  tone  had  lashed  that  extraordinary  entity 
that  was  staring  at  her  out  of  those  wonderful  eyes.  She 
had  seen  the  black  lashes  quiver. 

"  Oh  please,"  she  cried  spontaneously,  "  I  didn't  mean 
that.  I  mean  -  "  she  stopped  confused.  They  looked 
at  one  another  for  a  moment  of  silence. 

She  almost  forgot  she  was  looking  at  a  man,  and  stared 
as  if  she  were  looking  at  a  picture.  She  saw  a  perfect  oval 
face  of  arresting  whiteness  a  little  tanned  by  the  sun,  a 
face  shot  through  all  its  sensitiveness  with  elusive  pain. 
But  the  features,  chiselled  with  the  beauty  of  an  old  cameo, 
had  as  yet  no  sign  of  looseness  about  them.  They  were 
straight,  mobile,  but  firm.  He  had  a  lovely  mouth,  with 


THE  STRANGE  ATTRACTION  55 

no  trace  of  dissipation  upon  the  fine  lips  which  curved 
ever  so  delicately  at  the  ends  with  a  whimsical  little  twist. 
It  was  a  face  that  any  loss  of  weight  would  have  made 
thin,  but  as  she  saw  it  it  needed  nothing  to  give  it  per- 
fection of  proportion.  She  was  only  conscious  of  all  this 
as  a  setting  for  his  eyes.  It  was  they  that  held  and 
abashed  her.  They  lit  from  within  his  whole  glamorous 
presence.  They  spread  the  troubled  questioning  and 
nervous  discontent  about  his  features.  They  suggested 
quests,  adventures,  battles,  defeats,  despairs.  In  the  poor 
gaslight  they  seemed  to  be  absolutely  black  and  she  could 
not  tell  what  colour  was  in  them. 

She  recovered  herself  and  went  on.  "  I  put  that  badly. 
What  I  meant  to  say  was  that  I  never  encroach  on  peo- 
ple's peace.  I  care  too  much  for  my  own." 

He  did  not  take  his  eyes  off  her  as  she  spoke.  He  was 
rather  astonished  that  she  had  sensed  him  so  quickly,  and 
still  more  astonished  at  her  blundering  apology.  It  was 
unexpectedly  human. 

"  I  understand  you,  thank  you,"  he  said  quietly.  His 
glance  fell  on  Esther  Waters  lying  on  the  top  of  a  fat 
ledger.  He  looked  back  at  her. 

"  Was  it  you  who  were  out  on  the  point  by  the  river 
last  night?" 

"  Yes.     Is  that  your  land  too?  " 

At  the  change  in  her  tone  his  face  melted  into  a  slow 
smile  that  created  a  responsive  one  on  hers. 

"  No,  Miss  Carr.  And  you  may  come  out  to  that  point 
of  mine  whenever  you  want  to.  But  for  God's  sake  don't 
bring  anvone  with  you  or  tell  anyone  you  come.  Good- 
night." 

Before  she  could  think  of  an  answer  he  was  gone  round 
the  counter  and  she  heard  the  door  close. 

He  left  an  extraordinary  blank  behind  him.     It  seemed 


56  THE  STRANGE  ATTRACTION 

to  Valerie  that  he  had  sucked  something  out  of  her.  She 
stood  uncertainly  a  moment.  Then  she  closed  the  door 
into  the  composing-room  for  no  reason  except  that  she  had 
to  do  something  to  sharpen  her  consciousness  again.  Then 
she  sat  down  in  her  chair  and  deliberately  pieced  him  to- 
gether as  he  had  stood  in  front  of  her.  He  was  little  more 
than  two  inches  taller  than  herself,  slightly  but  well  made, 
and  she  judged  him  to  be  about  thirty-six  years  old.  In 
spite  of  his  unusual  appearance  she  had  seen  nothing  of 
the  poseur  in  his  manner.  Indeed  she  had  been  surprised 
by  a  certain  simplicity,  an  unconsciousness  of  himself. 
And  he  had  not  thrust  forth  any  tentacles  at  her.  Bob 
had  jeered  at  his  mode  of  dressing,  but  he  was  simply 
carrying  the  easy  and  conventional  clothes  of  the  artist 
into  the  camp  of  the  Philistines,  as  the  Philistines  carried 
their  clothes  into  the  haunts  of  the  artist.  If  he  had  a 
beautiful  throat  Valerie  saw  no  reason  why  he  should  not 
wear  low  soft  collars  and  open  shirts.  If  he  liked  colour 
she  saw  no  reason  why  he  should  not  wear  a  vivid  tie,  pro- 
vided that  his  manner  did  not  proclaim  it,  and  his  did  not. 
She  had  liked  the  cut  of  his  navy  serge  suit,  and  the  fresh- 
ness of  his  white  silk  shirt  and  the  comfort  of  his  canvas 
shoes.  He  knew  how  to  combine  fastidiousness  and  finish 
with  colour  and  ease.  Beside  him  Bob  looked  like  a  bull 
beside  a  deer. 

She  remembered  that  she  had  heard  him  called  effemi- 
nate, but  nothing  effeminate  had  looked  at  her  out  of  those 
eyes  of  his,  nor  was  there  anything  unmasculine  about  his 
voice. 

It  was  half  an  hour  before  she  could  get  her  thoughts 
back  on  working  up  Bob's  notes  of  the  county  council 
meeting  of  the  afternoon  before.  She  didn't  seem  to  care 
how  many  tons  of  stone  were  put  on  the  road  between 
Aratapu  and  Dargaville  before  the  winter  came,  or  whether; 
Princess  Street  was  ever  shelled  again  or  not. 


CHAPTER  V 


ONE  evening  in  the  middle  of  March,  as  Dane  lay, 
smoking  in  his  hammock  immediately  after  his 
dinner,  the  dogs  which  were  chained  on  the  other 
side  of  the  house  set  up  a  ferocious  yelp,  and  almost  simul- 
taneously Lee  stood  in  the  nearest  doorway. 

"  Mr.  Benton  coming  in,"  he  said. 

"  All  right.     I'll  see  him." 

Dane  did  not  move  as  Roger  came  with  his  spurs  clink- 
ing round  to  that  side  of  the  house. 

"  Hello !  "  he  said  as  his  visitor  came  to  the  steps. 

"  Hello,  Barrington,  are  you  sociable  this  evening?  " 

"  Yes,  really  pleased  to  see  you.  Did  they  get  away 
from  the  coast  yesterday?  " 

"  Yes,  everybody  has  gone  and  you  have  it  to  yourself 
now." 

"  Good.     Sit  down.     Have  you  had  dinner?  " 

"  Yes,  at  Hill's,  as  I  came  along.  I've  got  to  look  in  at 
the  railway  men's  meeting  to-night,  but  there's  plenty  of 
time."  Roger  sat  down  where  he  could  see  his  host's  face. 

Lee  came  through  the  doorway  with  a  tray  and  bottles 
and  glasses. 

"  Wine  or  whisky,  Meester  Benton  ?  "  he  asked. 

"  Whisky,  thank  you." 

"  Meester  Barrington,  what  for  you?  " 

"  Wine,  please." 

The  boy  poured  out  the  drinks,  saw  that  the  smoking 
apparatus  was  complete,  and  disappeared. 

Roger  Benton  took  out  his  pipe  and  filled  it.  "  I'm 

57 


58  THE  STRANGE  ATTRACTION 

glad  the  summer  is  nearly  over,"  he  said.  "  I  don't  mind 
the  heat.  But  we  have  had  so  little  rain  this  summer. 
That's  so  bad  for  the  stock." 

"  Yes,  why  the  deuce  don't  you  manage  better  than  to 
let  your  animals  die?  The  sight  of  dead  cows  floating 
down  this  river  makes  me  sick.  I  bumped  into  one  the 
other  day.  Couldn't  get  that  poor  brute's  eyes  out  of  my 
mind." 

*'  Well,  we  don't  see  'em  die  for  fun,  Barrington.  It's 
impossible  to  watch  them  all  the  time,  and  the  damned 
things  will  walk  into  the  river  to  get  cool,  and  then  down 
they  go  in  the  mud  and  drown  before  anyone  can  get  to 
them." 

"  What  a  pathetic  tragedy,"  said  Dane,  drinking  down 
the  last  of  his  wine.  "  How  are  you  getting  on?  "  he 
asked  after  a  silence.  "  Have  you  formed  a  committee 
yet?" 

"  No." 

Dane  turned  lazily  on  his  cushions.  "  You  ought  to 
hurry  up  with  that,  Benton.  And  drill  them  in  the  his- 
tory of  the  Opposition.  You've  got  to  talk  Massey,  you 
know,  as  well  as  yourself.  And  Mobray  has  a  pretty  in- 
telligent group  going  already." 

"  I  know.  I  will  hurry  up.  I'm  going  to  do  it  this 
week.  I  wish  you'd  come  on  the  committee." 

"  Good  God !  "  Dane  laughed  suddenly,  seeing  this  was 
what  Roger  had  come  in  to  ask.  "  That  wouldn't  do  you 
any  good,  my  friend.  The  world  hasn't  your  easy  toler- 
ance. No,  thanks,  I  won't  go  on  your  committee.  But 
I'll  help  you  all  I  can." 

He  looked  out  through  a  clearing  he  had  cut  through 
his  trees  to  the  river.  It  put  into  a  leafy  frame  a  picture 
that  varied  with  every  day.  In  the  foreground  there  was 
a  little  bit  of  river  and  then  the  stretch  of  a  long  valley, 


THE  STRANGE  ATTRACTION  59 

at  the  end  of  which  the  sun  rose  and  the  moon  rose.  He 
saw  the  silver  arc  now  upon  the  horizon  with  the  shapes  of 
trees  etched  in  vivid  black  across  it. 

"  The  men  like  you,"  persisted  Roger,  "  the  fellows 
around  the  mills  and  the  camps.  They  are  the  chaps  I'm 
afraid  of." 

"  My  dear  chap,  my  singing  to  them  occasionally  won't 
affect  their  politics.  But  you  get  your  committee  going 
as  soon  as  you  can.  And  make  George  Rhodes  chairman 
of  it.  He's  the  most  intelligent  of  that  lot  in  Dargaville." 

"  Yes,  I  will."  Roger  stretched  out  his  legs.  "  I  envy 
you,  Barrington." 

"  Do  you?  " 

"  Yes.  Really  I  do.  You  have  no  ties.  You  don't 
have  to  be  respectable.  You  don't  care  what  men  say 
about  you." 

"Don't  I?" 

"  Well,  you  don't  show  it." 

"  What  men  don't  show,  my  naive  friend,  is  often  the 
most  vital  thing  about  them."  Dane  took  another  ciga- 
rette and  lit  it  at  the  one  he  had  just  finished.  He  turned 
a  little  and  readjusted  his  cushions.  Then  he  looked  quiz- 
zically at  Roger.  Besides  Doctor  Steele  he  was  the  only 
man  he  had  asked  to  come  to  this  place.  He  would  never 
forget  that  Roger  had  called  upon  him  at  Mac's  hotel  be- 
fore he  had  been  there  a  week  and  had  invited  him  out  to 
his  sheep  run.  He  had  not  accepted  the  invitation,  but 
he  had  accepted  the  spirit  of  it.  Dane  liked  Roger.  He 
was  like  a  blanket  on  a  cold  day.  He  appeared  to  enjoy 
life.  And  there  was  something  about  his  big  loose  body, 
his  strong  limbs,  that  gave  physical  comfort  to  the  other 
man  with  his  nervous  organism  and  his  much  too  ready 
weariness. 

"  It  must  be  an  awful  bore  to  have  a  public  job,"  said 


60  THE  STRANGE  ATTRACTION 

Dane  after  a  while.  "  The  last  thing  on  earth  I  should 
want  would  be  to  run  for  Parliament.  What  on  earth  do 
you  see  in  it?  " 

"  Oh,  I'll  like  it  well  enough  if  I  get  in,  but  I  don't  like 
the  bother  of  getting  there." 

"  Yes,  it  pleases  your  vanity  and  that  of  your  wife. 
You  fool  yourself  into  thinking  you  can  do  more  for  the 
district  than  any  other  man  because  your  friends  have  told 
you  so,  and  your  wife  is  dying  to  go  to  Wellington  every 
winter  and  cut  a  dash,  and  you  like  the  idea  of  dining  with 
the  Governor — all  that."  He  waved  a  hand  contemptu- 
ously. 

Roger  would  have  been  annoyed  at  anyone  else  who  put 
it  this  way.  "  You  are  right,"  he  said  amiably.  "  Well, 
I'm  not  in,  and  a  man  who  has  been  in  fifteen  years 
will  take  some  beating.  But  it's  the  general  swing  in 
the  country  from  Ward  to  Massey  that  I'm  reckoning 
on." 

'*  Yes,  the  old  Liberal  Party  has  had  a  long  innings ; 
eighteen  years  or  so,  isn't  it,  since  Dick  Seddon  jumped 
into  the  lead,  and  there  was  someone  before  him,  wasn't 
there?  " 

"  I  forget  just  now." 

Dane  thought  he  was  the  most  casual  candidate  he  had 
ever  met. 

Night  was  now  settling  down  on  the  river  and  the  gar- 
'den.  Lee  and  his  brother  San,  who  was  cook,  came  into 
the  big  room  beside  them,  drew  back  the  curtains,  and  lit 
two  lamps  that  cast  bands  of  light  across  the  verandah 
and  created  mysterious  shades  beyond  the  trunks  of  the 
trees  outside.  Then  they  went  into  the  other  room  and  it 
fcame  to  light  also. 

"  You  like  some  music?  "  asked  Lee  from  the  doorway 
nearest  the  sleeping  cot. 


THE  STRANGE  ATTRACTION  61 

"  Care  for  the  victrola,  Benton?     I  got  one  out  re- 
cently.    It  amuses  the  boys." 
"  Why,  yes,  I'd  like  it." 
Dane  nodded  at  Lee. 


II 

Roger  turned  in  his  chair  a  little  so  that  he  could  look 
into  the  room  with  the  three  doors.  He  had  never  been 
asked  into  it,  nor,  indeed,  into  the  house  since  his  host 
had  reconstructed  it.  As  Valerie  had  thought,  it  had 
been  built  by  an  early  missionary,  and  no  less  a  person 
than  Bishop  Selwyn  had  once  lived  there.  It  amused  Ben- 
ton  to  think  that  the  same  walls  should  have  housed  two 
such  dissimilar  men,  for  Roger  had  supposed  many  of  the 
rumours  about  Dane  were  true,  even  while  he  remained 
tolerant  to  the  man. 

The  house  had  been  constructed  with  some  taste,  for  the 
studs  were  high,  the  ceilings  of  the  main  rooms  beamed, 
and  the  brick  fireplaces  large.  Dane  had  replaced  the  old 
wall  paper  with  linings  of  oiled  rimu.  The  room  with  the 
three  doors  had  originally  been  two,  but  he  had  taken  out 
the  partition  to  make  it  spacious  enough  to  house  most  of 
the  Oriental  things  he  had  picked  up  when  travelling  in  the 
East. 

Roger  had  heard  Davenport  Carr  say  that  Dane  Bar- 
rington's  Indian  rugs  and  Chinese  things  were  so  valuable 
that  he  had  willed  them  to  the  Sydney  Museum,  but  this 
did  not  impress  him  so  much  as  did  the  suggestion  of  silken 
rakishness  that  he  got  through  the  curtained  slits  of  those 
tantalizing  doors.  He  had  once  managed  to  sit  opposite 
one  of  them  long  enough  to  have  his  senses  tickled  by  the 
riot  of  gold  and  vermilion  and  wondrous  blues  and  greens 
that  lit  the  room  and  the  walls. 


62  THE  STRANGE  ATTRACTION 

The  place  was  indeed  something  of  a  treasure  House  for 
&  good  deal  of  the  Chinese  porcelain,  the  nephrite  and 
jadeite  brush  pots  and  jars  and  ornaments,  some  of  the 
ivories,  three  carved  boxes  of  Peking  lacquer,  many  of  the 
Hronze  incense  burners  and  covered  jars,  an  enamel  box 
inlaid  with  jewels,  and  a  wonderful  little  bottle  of  lapus 
lazuli  had  come  from  the  loot  of  the  Summer  Palace  at  the 
suppression  of  the  Boxer  rebellion,  and  by  devious  ways 
had  found  themselves  in  the  hands  of  Dane's  father.  He 
had,  besides,  a  varied  collection  of  less  valuable  but  beau- 
tiful vases  and  jars  of  apple  green  and  powdered  blue  and 
red  porcelain,  a  collection  of  small  things  carved  out  of  the 
hard  stones,  some  fine  bits  of  Foochou  lacquer,  and  a  mar- 
vellous carved  box  of  rock  crystal  in  which  he  kept  ciga- 
rettes. These  things  stood  on  lacquered  tables  and  cabi- 
nets, and  the  most  valuable  were  locked  in  one  behind 
glass.  He  had  two  large  screens,  one  old  Chinese  in  black 
and  gold  and  the  other  Japanese  in  red  and  black.  The 
three  lamps  in  the  room  were  oil  set  in  red  porcelain  jars 
and  had  shades  made  of  gay  silks.  A  nest  of  scarlet 
lacquer  tables,  of  which  the  one  on  the  verandah  was  part, 
stood  between  two  of  the  doors. 

There  were  no  pictures  on  the  walls  which  were  hung 
with  Indian  silks  and  rugs,  and  the  floor  was  covered  by 
one  large  and  very  valuable  one  in  the  prevailing  colour. 
To  tone  this  down  the  deep  lounge  set  directly  in  front  of 
the  brick  hearth  and  the  two  modern  upholstered  chairs 
were  done  in  black  silk,  but  their  sombreness  was  in  turn 
vivified  by  numerous  brilliant  cushions.  At  one  end  of  the 
lounge  there  stood  a  fire-screen  of  fine  black  lacquer  orna- 
mented with  mother-of-pearl. 

This  was  the  kind  of  thing  that  looked  mysteriously 
wicked  to  people  brought  up  on  the  Victorian  antimacas- 
sar, wool  work,  and  the  aenemic  proportions  of  spidery 


THE  STRANGE  ATTRACTION  63 

furniture  or  the  severity  of  mission  art.  Roger  was  not 
at  all  sure  of  it  himself;  it  wasn't  the  kind  of  thing  he 
would  go  in  for,  and  yet  it  stirred  him  pleasantly.  He 
supposed  it  was  only  because  it  was  on  the  banks  of  the 
Wairoa  that  it  took  on  the  significance  it  did.  Of  course 
he  had  told  his  wife  all  about  it,  and  it  was  too  good  a 
glimpse  of  sin  to  be  kept  in  the  family.  All  Dargaville 
knew  that  Dane  lounged  about  like  a  woman  on  gorgeous 
cushions,  and  that  his  rooms  were  filled  with  colour  and 
scent.  The  pioneer  spirit,  conveniently  recent  enough  to 
be  quoted,  was  offended. 


Ill 

The  two  men  listened  in  silence  to  records  by  Harry 
Lauder  and  Melba  and  Caruso.  But  Roger  was  not  fond 
of  music.  After  a  while  as  he  refilled  his  pipe  he  turned 
to  his  host. 

"  Have  you  seen  Miss  Carr  yet  ?  "  he  asked. 

"  Yes,  turned  her  off  my  land  one  day." 

"  What ! " 

Dane  raised  his  face  a  little,  peering  at  Roger,  who  was 
blurred  against  the  wall  out  of  the  line  of  any  light. 

"  Fact.  But  I  did  not  know  till  afterwards  that  it  was 
she.  Then  I  went  to  the  office  and  apologized." 

"Oh,  you  did?" 

"  Why,  of  course.  I  wouldn't  willingly  be  a  beast  to 
the  daughter  of  Dave  Carr,  or  to  anybody  else's  daughter, 
for  that  matter." 

"  She's  a  character." 

"Is  she?" 

"  What  did  you  think  of  her?  " 

"  Why,  nothing.     I  noticed  she  had  fine  defiant  eyes 


64  THE  STRANGE  ATTRACTION 

and  a  lot  of  hair.  [Are  you  getting  sentimental  about 
her?" 

Roger  stretched  out  his  legs.  "  I  might,  if  she'd  let 
me,"  he  said. 

Dane  assumed  an  air  of  solemnity.  "  Look  here,  old 
chap.  None  of  that.  You've  got  to  be  a  moral  husband 
and  father,  a  pillar  of  society.  The  eye  of  the  world 
is  on  you,  Roger.  And  then  there's  Lorrimer,  isn't 
there?  And  he  has  a  belligerent  set  of  shoulders.  Not 
that  that  ever  made  any  difference  to  a  determined 
man." 

"  They  don't  act  as  if  they  were  engaged." 

"  That's  nothing.  You  never  know  what  is  between  any 
man  or  woman." 

"  I  wonder  why  she  came  up  here?  " 

"  How  should  I  know,  my  dear  Roger?  Is  she  any 
good  on  the  paper?  " 

"  By  Jove,  yes,  she  is." 

"  Well,  it  is  a  well-edited  little  sheet,  I  can  tell  you  that, 
and  they're  improving  the  make-up  every  day,  and  they've 
got  life  into  it,  whichever  of  them  is  doing  it.  By  the  way, 
I  seem  to  remember  some  tale  about  her,  an  adventure, 
running  away  from  home  or  something  like  that,  years 
ago,  in  a  boat,  with  some  boy." 

"  Yes,  she  did,  and  Lorrimer  was  the  boy.  My  wife  was 
staying  in  Auckland  at  the  time,  and  heard  the  story.  It 
was  ten  years  ago.  I  forget  the  details  now.  They  did 
go  in  a  boat,  and  I  believe  it  was  a  week  before  they  were 
found.  And  she  looks  now  as  if  she'd  just  run  away  with 
anybody  any  minute.  She's  the  most  independent  girl — 
the  women  don't  like  her.  She  won't  go  to  see  anybody. 
She's  refused  all  invitations  to  dinner.  What  can  you  do 
with  a  girl  like  that?" 

"Good   Lord!     Why   try   to   do   anything?     Let   her 


THE  STRANGE  ATTRACTION  65 

alone."  Dane,  who  had  lain  for  some  minutes  without 
smoking,  lit  himself  another  cigarette. 

"  Women  are  a  pest,"  went  on  Roger,  with  an  air  of 
profundity  that  amused  his  host. 

"  Then  keep  away  from  them." 

"  Well,  I  can't.     I  like  them,  I  like  their  company." 

"  H'm !  That's  the  one  thing  about  them  I  like  least. 
They  don't  understand  company.  They  ruin  it  and  love 
and  scenery  and  music,  and  everything  worth  having,  with 
their  infernal  chatter.  It's  an  eternal  mystery  to  me  that 
men  don't  strangle  women  in  the  night.  I  sigh  for  the 
good  old  days  when  they  did  it.  The  best  women  could 
ever  do  for  me  was  to  give  me  physical  rest,  and  God 
knows  I  have  wanted  a  lot  more  than  that  from  them. 
And  they  don't  even  understand  sense.  They  do  under- 
stand suggestion  and  stimulation,  but  they  fall  short  when 
it  comes  to  satisfying  what  they  have  aroused.  And  they 
can't  make  a  fine  art  of  love.  They  can  only  be  senti- 
mental or  sacrificial  about  it,  and  eternally  remind  you 
afterwards  that  they  have  given  you  everything.  They 
have  no  honour  in  love."  He  stopped  abruptly.  He  had 
surprised  Roger  by  this  outburst. 

"  I  guess  you  are  harder  to  please  than  I  am,"  he  said. 

Caruso's  voice,  vibrant  with  the  passion  of  an  Italian 
love  song,  rang  out  from  the  room  further  down  and  was 
smothered  in  the  heavy  silence  of  the  garden.  Dane  threw 
one  hand  across  his  face.  He  did  not  want  to  talk  any 
more.  Roger  sat  till  another  record  was  played  then  he 
stood  up. 

"  I  must  be  getting  along,  Barrington." 

Dane  roused  himself  and  swung  out  of  his  hammock. 
Stretching  himself,  he  looked  up  at  the  soft  stars. 

"  God !  What  a  lovely  night !  You  will  have  a  fine 
ride,"  he  said. 


66  THE  STRANGE  ATTRACTION 

They  went  round  the  house  along  the  drive  to  the  rather 
dilapidated  stables  outside  of  which  Roger  had  tied  his 
horse.  It  was  a  beautiful  animal  that  whinnied  and  pawed 
the  ground  as  they  came  up  to  it.  The  moon,  coming  up 
over  the  pines,  caught  its  quivering  muscles  and  put  a 
sheen  on  them.  Dane  drew  down  its  impatient  head  and 
rubbed  his  cheek  against  the  satin  of  its  sensitive  skin. 
It  nosed  him  back  in  a  friendly  fashion.  Then  he  looked 
up  admiringly  at  Roger,  who  swung  easily  into  the  saddle, 
and  who  was  a  superb  figure  on  his  big  horse.  Dane 
walked  along  by  him  to  open  the  gate. 

"  I'll  go  down  to  the  tent  in  a  day  or  two,"  he  said. 
"  I  may  stay  down  there  while  the  weather's  good." 

"  All  right.     Good-night." 

"  So  long,  old  man.  See  you  soon.  Don't  forget  about 
your  committee." 

"  No  fear."  And  in  a  moment  Roger's  horse  was  leap- 
ing for  Dargaville. 

Dane  lingered  by  his  gate,  staring  into  the  forest  that 
rose  steeply  between  him  and  the  western  sky.  It  was 
virgin  bush,  practically  untouched,  with  Kauri  saplings 
further  up  sending  slim  pointers  impertinently  at  the  very 
stars.  His  one  grievance  against  this  range  was  that  it 
shut  him  off  from  the  sunsets.  He  had  always  dreamed 
of  a  place  where  he  could  lie  in  a  hammock  and  see  the  sun 
come  up  on  one  side  of  him  and  go  down  on  the  other. 
But  it  seemed  that  that  was  one  of  the  impossible  things 
he  had  clamoured  for. 

He  thought  of  Roger  as  he  walked  back,  and  was 
amused  to  think  that  he  had  been  attracted  by  Valerie 
Carr.  And  yet  there  was  nothing  unusual  about  it.  He 
got  a  picture  of  Valerie  as  she  had  risen  out  of  her  chair 
in  the  office  to  face  him.  He  had  not  thought  of  her  since, 
even  though  at  the  time  he  had  felt  her  charging  vitality. 


THE  STRANGE  ATTRACTION  67 

He  was  still  suffering  too  much  from  his  treatment  at  the 
hands  of  women  to  be  easily  rid  of  the  exceeding  bitterness 
he  felt  when  he  thought  of  them. 

His  dogs  leapt  at  him  from  their  kennels  beside  the 
path.  He  caressed  them,  and  unchained  them,  and  played 
his  way  with  them  back  to  the  other  side  of  the  house. 
Then  he  began  to  pace  back  and  forth  on  the  path,  stop- 
ping every  now  and  again  to  look  up  at  the  trees  patterned 
against  the  moonlit  sky,  or  to  peep  through  his  cutting  at 
the  dull  sheen  on  the  river. 

As  he  went  up  the  steps  some  time  later  he  felt  some- 
thing crunch  under  his  feet,  and  with  a  little  shudder 
stooped  to  see  what  he  had  done.  Making  a  face,  he 
scraped  the  unpleasant  thing  out  of  sight  with  his  shoe. 
Then  he  grieved  because  he  had  crushed  the  life  out  of  an 
insignificant  insect,  and  took  a  moment  to  wonder  what 
pathetic  domestic  tragedy  in  the  history  of  beetles  would 
result  from  his  inadvertent  clumsiness. 


CHAPTER  VI 


""^  T'OU  know,  Val,  I  do  think  we  ought  to  go  just 

^[        once  to   the  Bentons'  for   a   Sunday.     It  does 

JL       seem  so  dashed  uncivil  not  to." 

This  came  out  unexpectedly  as  Valerie  and  Bob  sat  in 
the  office  about  half-past  eight.  She  waited  a  few  sec- 
onds before  replying.  Her  eyes  had  hardened. 

"  Good  heavens,  Bob,  do  I  have  to  decide  for  you 
whether  you  go  or  not?  I've  decided  for  myself  and 
told  you  my  decision.  If  you  can't  make  up  your  mind 
what  you  want  to  do,  I  do  not  see  why  you  should  bother 
me  with  it." 

Bob  took  a  long  puff  at  his  pipe.  It  annoyed  him  that 
Valerie  was  the  one  person  he  could  do  nothing  with.  And 
it  annoyed  him  that  some  devil  in  him  continually 
prompted  him  to  try  to  change  her.  The  fact  that  irri- 
tation and  friction  resulted  did  not  deter  him  from  begin- 
ning it  all  over  again. 

"  Well,  I  can't  see  why  you  don't  want  to  go,"  he 
snapped. 

"  Then  you'll  have  to  go  on  living  without  seeing,  Bob. 
Do  you  know  you  are  getting  more  like  the  relatives  every 
day?  Yes  you  are,"  she  repeated,  as  he  squirmed  in  his 
chair.  "  You  promised  if  I  came  up  here  that  you  would 
treat  me  as  if  I  were  a  man  and  an  independent  stranger. 
And  you  have  done  nothing  of  the  kind.  I  feel  your  criti- 
cism every  day.  You  were  mad  when  I  ordered  ale  for  my 
lunch.  You  were  mad  when  I  walked  past  the  barroom 

68 


THE  STRANGE  ATTRACTION  69 

door  and  you  heard  some  harmless  creature  inside  enquire 
who  I  was,  as  if  that  could  hurt  me.  You  were  mad  when 
you  heard  that  I  played  to  a  party  of  sailors.  You  are 
mad  because  I'm  talked  about.  I've  always  been  talked 
about,  and  I  always  will  be,  not  that  I  get  up  in  the  morn- 
ing meaning  to  be,  but  it  seems  to  happen.  Now  I  won't 
go  to  the  Bentons'  because  I  want  rest  on  my  Sundays. 
And  if,  after  seeing  me  all  the  week,  you  still  want  to  see 
me  on  a  Sunday,  all  I  can  say  is  you're  a  glutton.  If  I 
hadn't  tried  to  regulate  this  friendship  of  ours  you'd  have 
killed  it  years  ago.  You  men  are  all  alike.  You  want  to 
swallow  a  woman  whole,  and  then  you  wonder  why  you  get 
sex  indigestion." 

"  You'll  live  to  be  knocked  down  yet,"  he  retorted,  an- 
noyed that  he  could  never  get  the  best  of  her. 

"  I  wonder  why  that  thought  seems  to  give  such  pleas- 
ure to  a  large  proportion  of  the  human  race?  "  she  said 
meditatively.  "  It  doesn't  thrill  me  to  think  that  anyone 
who  differs  from  me  will  get  a  crack  on  the  skull.  That's 
just  like  the  relatives,  Bob.  They  used  to  curl  their 
tongues  with  joy  round  the  things  fate  had  in  store 
for  me." 

"  Look  here,"  he  groaned,  "  if  you  compare  me  with 
those  damned  relatives  again " 

"  Then  don't  be  like  them,  dear  Bob." 

He  turned  back  to  his  desk.  "  I  say,  have  you  any 
more  to  do  here  ?  " 

"  A  little." 

"  Well,  I  don't  care,  clear  out.  I've  got  to  write  this 
leader." 

She  made  a  face  at  him,  kissed  the  top  of  his  head,  took 
her  things  and  went  out.  As  she  walked  towards  the  cen- 
tre of  the  town  she  stopped  once  and  drove  her  right  heel 
into  the  clay  path  as  if  she  were  crushing  a  centipede. 


70  THE  STRANGE  ATTRACTION 

"  My  God,"  she  thought,  "  if  I  ever  make  any  claims  on 
any  human  soul  may  I  be  struck  dead." 

And  a  man  coming  up  to  her  looked  curiously  at  her, 
wondering  why  she  had  twisted  round  in  the  path  like  that. 


II 

When  Valerie  came  to  Queen  Street  she  paused.  She 
could  just  hear  the  heavy  roll  of  the  waves  on  the  coast. 
She  considered  that  it  could  not  be  much  after  nine  and 
that  she  could  walk  to  the  gully  and  back  with  time  to 
spare  before  the  hotel  closed  at  midnight.  She  knew  the 
cottagers  had  returned  three  days  before,  and  that  she 
would  have  the  road  to  herself.  Few  people  from  the  town 
ever  walked  up  there  on  the  flat.  The  moon  was  nearing 
the  full,  and  she  knew  it  would  be  wonderful  out  there  by 
the  sea. 

Sounds  of  voices  and  laughter  floated  out  as  she  passed 
Ray  Bolton's  house.  They  were  playing  bridge  in  there. 
She  paused  a  moment  to  listen.  The  windows  were  open 
and  the  light  streamed  out  through  the  lath  blinds  that 
screened  the  verandah.  She  could  hear  Mrs.  Harris's 
high  laugh,  that  undiscriminating  laugh  that  took  the 
flavour  out  of  everything.  She  could  imagine  the  chatter 
round  those  tables,  the  punctilious  behaviour  as  a  thin 
veneer  over  brittle  tempers  and  personal  predilections. 
What  she  detested  most  about  these  people  was  that  they 
were  poor  copies  of  other  imitations,  all  straining  their 
imaginations  in  the  process  of  worshipping  the  "  correct 
thing."  She  wondered  if  little  Mrs.  Rhodes  was  there 
struggling  to  keep  her  personality  intact  in  that  circle,  a 
victim  of  her  husband's  position. 

Ten  minutes  after  she  had  left  the  town  behind  her  she 
had  forgotten  it.  She  drew  in  long  breaths  of  the  rising 


THE  STRANGE  ATTRACTION  71 

breeze  that  wailed  about  the  bushes  with  a  vague  threat  of 
rain.  Clouds  crept  up  from  the  west  and  blotted  out  the 
moon  and  uncovered  it  again  as  they  drifted  on.  She  felt 
extraordinarily  free  and  happy. 

When  she  got  to  the  top  of  the  ravine  she  dropped  down 
upon  the  edge  of  it  between  bits  of  stunted  ti-tree.  Down 
below  her  she  could  see  the  moon  whitening  the  line  of  surf. 

The  breeze  was  fresh  here  and  the  sea  was  rising.  She 
was  lost  in  a  rambling  wonder  at  the  miracle  of  space 
above  her  when  she  heard  steps  on  the  road.  In  her  dark 
dress  she  was  almost  invisible  in  the  shadow,  and  could 
have  stayed  unobserved,  but  instinctively  she  jumped  to 
her  feet,  and  startled  a  man  who  stopped  suddenly  not 
more  than  a  yard  away  from  her. 

"  What  the  devil — oh,  I  beg  your  pardon.  Good  Lord, 
Miss  Carr,  do  you  jump  down  from  the  stars  in  a  para- 
chute, or  what?  " 

Valerie  struggled  against  the  instantaneous  effect  that 
Dane  had  on  her.  "  I  thought  everybody  had  gone  from 
here,"  she  said  lamely,  as  if  she  had  to  account  for  her 
presence.  And  then  she  was  vexed  that  she  seemed  to  be 
apologizing  for  herself.  It  was  so  unlike  her. 

"  The  cottagers  have  gone,  thank  God.  But  I  don't 
regulate  my  life  by  them." 

"  I  should  hope  you  didn't,"  she  said  with  emphasis. 

She  saw  now  that  he  was  stooping  under  the  weight  of  a 
large  knapsack  strapped  to  his  back.  He  held  his  smok- 
ing pipe  in  one  hand  and  his  snake  stick  in  the  other.  His 
head  was  vividly  black  and  white  against  the  sheen  of  the 
moon,  and  the  wind  stirred  in  his  soft  hair. 

As  he  saw  her  with  the  moon  full  upon  her  face  he 
caught  again  that  sense  of  abundant  life  he  had  got  from 
her  before,  and  a  sense  of  bodily  poise  and  pliancy  from 
her  easy  limbs. 


72 

"  You  are  alone?  "  he  said,  dropping  his  voice  into  a 
richer  and  wondering  tone. 

"And  why  shouldn't  I  be?  " 

He  detected  the  belligerency,  good-humoured  though  it 
was,  of  the  person  frequently  on  the  defensive  against 
criticism. 

"  Well,  it  is  unusual  to  find  a  woman  who  is  sane  enough 
to  be  alone,  and  on  such  good  terms  with  the  night  that 
she  will  wander  about  with  it.  But  you  must  be  very 
lonely,  Miss  Carr." 

This  simple  directness  amazed  Valerie.  She  did  not 
know  what  she  had  expected  him  to  be,  but  he  was  saying 
things  that  struck  her  as  astonishingly  unusual.  Or  per- 
haps it  was  that  his  glamorous  personality  infused  ordi- 
nary syllables  with  an  extraordinary  force. 

"  I  don't  know,"  she  said  slowly.  "  I  have  always  been 
happiest  alone." 

He  instantly  raised  the  hand  that  held  his  pipe  to  a  sa- 
lute. "  I  won't  disturb  your  dreams,"  he  said  softly. 
"  Good-night,"  and  moved  on. 

"  Oh,  I  didn't  mean  you  to  go  like  that,"  she  exclaimed 
spontaneously. 

But  he  waved  his  hand  at  her  and  did  not  stop.  She 
stood  still  looking  after  him  till  he  had  disappeared,  and 
he  knew,  with  a  funny  vague  premonition,  that  she  did. 

She  thought  of  him  all  the  way  home.  She  compared 
him  again  with  her  father.  Davenport  Carr  had  been 
born  into  the  Brahmin  caste,  and  Dane  Barrington  into 
the  artist.  Though  Dane's  marriage  and  his  looks  had, 
projected  him  into  the  other  for  a  while,  Valerie  doubted 
if  in  spirit  he  had  ever  belonged  there.  Her  father  had 
talked  of  his  fascination  as  a  dinner  host,  had  excused  his 
informal  dress,  had  called  him  a  special  case,  always  with 
the  implication  that  he  was  a  privileged  outsider.  It  had 


THE  STRANGE  ATTRACTION  73 

always  amused  her  to  hear  the  outsiders  discussed  by  the 
elect.  She  learned  as  she  grew  up  that  there  were  a  multi- 
plicity of  elects  each  with  its  own  group  of  outsiders.  She 
was  amused  at  the  queer  game  played  by  those  "  outside  " 
who  wanted  to  "  get  in."  She  had  heard  the  most  solemn 
conversations  on  the  subject.  She  had  never  been  able  to 
take  seriously  the  enormous  importance  of  the  "  ins  "  over 
the  "  outs,"  because  the  importance  seemed  to  her  to  be 
such  a  frail  bubble,  and  one  so  easily  pricked.  And  why 
did  anybody  ever  want  to  get  "in"?  Why  not  stay 
"  out  "  ?  Why  not  make  your  own  "  elect,"  if  you  had  to 
have  an  "  elect  "  ? 

She  had  listened  to  her  mother  making  out  dinner  lists. 
That  well-intentioned  but  sadly  unintelligent  parent  never 
dreamed  that  her  terrible  child  was  formulating  a  philos- 
ophy about  the  elect  out  of  so  simple  a  thing  as  a  dinner 
list.  And  when  Dane  Barrington  had  been  crossed  off  the 
dinner  lists  of  the  country  Valerie  had  wondered  if  he  was 
foolish  enough  to  think  he  would  lose  by  it. 

And  now  she  felt,  without  knowing  any  more  of  him 
than  the  pictures  of  his  beautiful  old  place  by  the  river 
and  of  the  tent  snuggled  in  the  sand-hills,  that  this  man 
had  learned  there  were  things  he  could  well  do  without. 
And  it  seemed  to  her  that  the  cleverest  thing  in  the  game 
of  life,  as  in  bridge,  was  to  know  what  you  could  discard. 

She  felt  now  with  a  lift  of  her  spirits  that  she  would  get 
to  know  him.  The  place  was  too  small  to  keep  apart  two 
people  who  wandered  about  in  the  night.  She  was  rather 
afraid  of  him  mentally.  He  was  brilliant  in  a  profession 
where  she  had  little  more  than  dreamed  her  way,  and  even 
in  their  two  brief  encounters  she  had  felt  a  cool  mental 
poise  balanced  against  her  impetuous  dogmatism.  She 
knew  she  was  crude  beside  him.  But  she  was  no  depreci- 
ator  of  herself.  She  had  never  met  a  man  her  personality 


74  THE  STRANGE  ATTRACTION 

could  not  affect  if  she  chose.  But  she  was  not  planning 
any  onslaught  on  the  peace  that  Dane  had  made  for  him- 
self. Her  thoughts  did  not  run  on  into  any  sentimental 
future.  All  she  thought  was  that  it  would  be  nice  to  have 
him  to  talk  to  sometimes,  perhaps  to  ride  with,  while  she 
stayed  in  Dargaville. 


Ill 

The  next  Saturday  evening  Dane  Barrington  wandered 
back  and  forth  on  the  beach  beside  the  surf,  so  near  it  that 
he  had  to  dodge  unexpectedly  encroaching  runs  of  frothy 
water.  He  wore  a  rough  tweed  suit  without  a  vest,  as  the 
air  had  been  chilled  a  little  by  heavy  rain  the  night  before, 
but  he  was  hatless  as  usual,  and  his  low  collar  was  loosely 
held  by  a  dull  red  tie. 

His  mind  was  clouded  by  one  of  the  moods  of  boredom 
and  loneliness  that  he  could  so  seldom  fight  off,  and  he  was 
playing  with  the  impulse  to  go  up  to  Mac's.  He  cursed 
himself  that  he  could  never  go  light-heartedly  now  in  the 
matter  of  folly.  Many  men  he  knew,  Davenport  Carr,  for 
instance,  could  drift  into  a  night  of  drinking  with  gaiety, 
and  did  not  have  to  pay  afterwards  the  price  he  did. 
What  a  wretched  creature  man  was  with  a  body  that  was 
never  equal  to  his  imagination.  There  were  physical 
limits  to  his  capacity  for  eating,  drinking  and  forgetting ; 
physical  limits  to  his  capacity  for  love.  And,  worse  still, 
there  was  that  awful  mental  limitation,  satiety. 

He  reflected  that  it  was  pitiful  that  he  did  not  know 
what  to  do  with  himself  in  this  mood.  He  could  get  just 
so  far  in  fighting  it  and  then  everything  went  smash  in  his 
brain.  He  turned  off  the  beach,  walking  towards  his  tent. 

Rounding  a  hillock  and  mounted  on  a  bay  horse,  Valerie 
nearly  ran  over  him. 


73 

As  she  had  hoped  she  would  meet  him  she  was  prepared 
to  some  extent.  She  pulled  up  suddenly.  But  she  mis- 
understood the  first  look  in  his  upturned  eyes. 

"  I'm  sorry  to  seem  to  get  in  your  way,  but  as  you  get 
in  mine  you  will  have  to  get  used  to  the  sight  of  me." 
Safe  up  on  her  horse,  gathering  something  from  the  life 
and  magnetism  of  him,  she  felt  snippy. 

As  he  looked  up  at  her  something  in  her  flushed  and 
glowing  face,  in  her  exuberant  health,  in  the  way  her  un- 
covered head  was  set  on  her  shoulders,  with  her  hair  in  two 
long  plaits  hanging  down  her  back,  brought  light  back 
into  his  mind.  And  at  her  words  the  light  flashing  into 
his  mind  diffused  itself  over  his  face. 

"  Oh,  Miss  Carr,  I  wish "  he  began  impulsively  and 

stopped,  remembering  unpleasant  things. 

"  Yes?  "  She  stared  down  expectantly,  surprised  by 
his  manner. 

"  Oh,  it  wasn't  anything."  He  looked  away  from  her, 
making  a  hopeless  gesture  with  his  shoulders. 

To  his  astonishment,  before  he  could  move,  she  vaulted 
off  her  horse  and  stood  before  him.  "  Please  finish  that 
sentence,"  she  commanded. 

She  was  surprised  to  see  that  he  looked  at  her  quite 
helplessly. 

"  You  were  going  to  ask  me  to  do  something  for  you. 
What  was  it  ?  "  More  than  her  words  her  youth  and  her 
own  particular  glamour  spoke  for  her. 

"  Why,  how  did  you  know  that  ?  "  Some  of  the  pain 
had  gone  from  his  eyes. 

"  When  a  person  has  a  face  as  expressive  as  yours, 

well "  She  waved  her  hands.  "  I  know  what  is  the 

matter  with  you.  The  goblins  have  got  you.  Now  what 
do  you  want  me  to  do  ?  " 

She  felt  a  quick  sense  of  triumph  as  she  saw  the  smile 


76  THE  STRANGE  ATTRACTION 

gather  at  the  back  of  his  eyes.  She  had  spoken  with  the 
pert  ease  of  a  spoiled  child,  and  it  had  amused  him  and 
surprised  him  into  the  simple  truth. 

"  You're  right.  I  am  blue.  I  was  going  to  ask  if  you 
would  let  me  ride  on  the  beach  with  you.  I  have  my  horse 
down  here  in  Benton's  stable." 

Her  eyes  widened  and  she  felt  very  warm  inside.  "  May 
I  ask  why  you  hesitated  at  first?  " 

"  Well,  it  would  take  a  long  time  to  tell.  Hesitations 
have  a  complicated  background." 

"  That  may  be.  But  I  want  you  to  understand  some- 
thing this  minute.  You  don't  have  to  hesitate  about  ask- 
ing me  anything.  I  don't  run  my  life  on  hesitations.  I'd 
have  you  know  I'm  a  free  spirit." 

Her  head  went  up  as  she  said  it,  and  he  thought  he  had 
never  seen  a  more  ravishing  picture  of  youthful  defiance, 
and  absurd  self-assurance. 

"  I  salute  you,  Miss  Freedom,"  he  said  with  a  charming 
gesture. 

He  stood  poised  before  her  in  the  sand  with  his  head  a 
little  to  one  side.  The  despair  had  gone  out  of  his  eyes 
over  which  a  whimsical  questioning  now  flitted,  and  she 
could  see  in  the  fading  light  that  they  seemed  to  be  blue. 
But  they  were  the  most  baffling  eyes  she  had  ever  seen. 
She  knew  there  was  a  great  deal  going  on  behind  them,  and 
she  wondered  if  she  would  ever  know  even  a  fraction  of  what 
it  was.  She  wondered  what  they  would  look  like  when  he 
put  love  into  them,  for  they  were  wonderful  even  when  they 
were  lit  with  polite  interest. 

"  You  don't  believe  me,"  she  went  on  pertly. 

"  Well,  let's  postpone  a  discussion  of  freedom.  I  take 
it  that  I  may  ride  with  you  ?  " 

"  You  certainly  may." 

"Shall  I  help  you  up?" 


THE  STRANGE  ATTRACTION  77 

"Help  me  up!" 

"  Oh,  I  beg  your  pardon,  Miss  Independence.  Have 
you  no  weaknesses?  "  And  again  a  slow  smile  crept  out 
of  his  eyes  and  rippled  about  his  features  like  a  wavelet  on 
a  pool. 

"  You  can  find  out,"  she  retorted,  vaulting  into  her  sad- 
dle, and  looking  down  at  him. 

"  Will  you  wait  on  the  beach  ?    I  won't  be  five  minutes." 

She  was  a  little  disappointed  that  he  had  not  asked  her 
to  the  tent.  She  was  excited  as  she  rode  on,  and  told  her- 
self not  to  assume  a  manner  that  really  did  not  belong  to 
her.  She  was  not  at  ease  with  him  yet,  and  his  looks  kept 
attracting  her  attention  away  from  the  man  inside. 
"  Gosh,"  she  said  to  herself,  "  no  man  ought  to  look  like 
that  unless  all  men  do.  He'd  make  a  vampire  of  a  haloed 
saint." 

But  she  had  felt  something  besides  his  looks,  something 
that  came  out  of  him  to  meet  her,  a  sudden  joyous  some- 
thing that  had  delighted  her.  He  had  peered  at  her  as 
one  elf  might  at  another  passing  in  a  green  glade.  She 
thought  of  some  of  the  furtive  looks  that  men  on  her  fa- 
ther's yacht  and  men  at  her  father's  dinner-table  had  given 
her,  and  marvelled  at  the  difference  there  could  be  in  the 
admiration  of  a  man's  eye. 

As  Dane  saddled  his  horse  he  stifled  an  unpleasant  sus- 
picion that  he  had  no  business  to  snatch  at  this  chance  of 
breaking  up  his  mood.  Though  he  might  go  about  with 
no  outward  consciousness  of  his  looks,  he  knew  only  too 
well  the  effect  of  them  on  women.  And  then,  Valerie  was 
the  daughter  of  Dave  Carr,  a  fact  he  must  not  forget. 
But  he  had  the  impression  that  she  was  a  mere  girl,  and  a 
good  deal  of  a  tomboy.  His  estimate  of  her  was  hope- 
lessly wrong,  as  he  was  to  find  out,  but  he  had  never  been 
at  first  any  judge  of  the  character  of  women. 


78  THE  STRANGE  ATTRACTION 


IV 

Valerie  watched  him  as  he  rode  towards  her.  He  rode 
'as  all  Australians  do,  as  if  he  had  been  born  in  the  saddle. 
The  horses  recognized  each  other.  His  was  black,  lined 
like  a  racer,  and  a  more  nervous  animal  than  hers. 

"  Where  did  you  get  him?  "  she  asked. 

"  From  Benton." 

"  Oh.     That's  where  I  got  mine." 

He  gave  one  look  at  her  and  one  at  the  beach  ahead. 
"  Let's  go  it,"  he  said. 

They  started  on  a  canter  and  broke  into  a  gallop.  She 
hung  down  on  her  bay's  neck  like  a  jockey  urging  it  to 
keep  up  with  the  black  which  kept  shooting  ahead.  The 
surf  was  a  blurred  gray  line  beside  them  as  the}7  raced  on, 
letting  the  animals  run  themselves  out,  and  when  they 
slowed  down  panting  and  foaming,  the  last  bit  of  lemon 
light  had  faded  off  the  cool  sea. 

Valerie  had  lost  her  hair  strings  and  her  plaits  were 
half  undone.  She  picked  her  tumbled  hair  out  of  her  eyes 
and  both  she  and  Dane  searched  hurriedly  for  their  hand- 
kerchiefs, and  tried  to  recover  their  natural  breathing.  It 
took  them  some  time  to  bring  their  excited  beasts  back  to 
the  tame  pace  of  a  walk. 

"  That  outpaced  the  goblins,  I  think,"  he  said,  smiling 
at  her. 

"  Were  they  very  bad  goblins  ?  "  She  put  the  sweet 
sympathy  of  a  child  into  her  tone. 

"  Rather.      But  what  do  you  know  about  goblins?  " 

"  What  do  I  know  about  them?  Well,  I  like  that !  I've 
goblins  of  my  own.  Haven't  I  a  right  to  them  ?  " 

"  Of  course,  if  you  insist  on  having  them.  But  yours,  I 
should  imagine,  are  rather  jolly." 


THE  STRANGE  ATTRACTION  79 

She  gave  a  contemptuous  snort.  "  How  like  a  man ! 
Superior  even  about  his  tragedies." 

"  Good  Lord,  you  can  have  all  mine  any  day  you  want 
them,"  he  said,  with  a  tinge  of  bitterness  in  his  voice. 

They  rode  on  in  silence  for  a  few  minutes.  Enough 
light  radiated  off  the  beach  and  the  surf  for  them  to  see 
each  other's  faces.  They  had  now  reached  a  place  on  the 
coast  where  trees  came  down  to  the  shore,  and  there  was  a 
little  gully  a  few  yards  further  on. 

"Would  you  like  to  get  off  and  smoke  a  while?"  he 
asked. 

"  Yes,  indeed." 

He  fastened  the  horses,  and  they  sat  down  on  the  roots 
of  a  tree  near  them. 

"  How  did  you  hear  of  your  old  place  by  the  river  ?  " 
she  asked,  after  he  had  lit  her  cigarette  and  his  pipe. 

"  Oh,  I  came  wandering  by  it  one  day  and  saw  *  For 
Sale '  on  the  gate.  I  went  in,  and  I  never  made  a  quicker 
decision  about  anything  in  my  life.  I  bought  it  the  next 
day.  It's  one  of  the  few  sensible  things  I  ever  did." 

"  I  wonder  if  they  have  been  so  few,"  she  said  softly. 

"  I'm  afraid  they  have.  I  haven't  lived  sensibly  at  all. 
I'm  not  like  you,  you  see." 

He  shot  a  quick  look  at  her. 

"  Oh  dear!    Have  I  suggested  that  I've  lived  sensibly?  " 

"  Well,  I  may  have  misunderstood  you.  Suppose  you 
explain  yourself." 

"  Good  Lord !  "  she  laughed,  but  very  pleased  that  he 
seemed  interested.  "  Wherever  shall  I  begin  ?  " 

"  Well,  let's  go  backwards.  Why  do  you  want  to  work 
on  a  paper?  " 

"  Why "  she  paused  considering. 

"  Don't  tell  me  if  you  don't  want  to,"  he  said  quickly. 

"  Oh,  but  I  do.      I  was  just  thinking — about  what  led 


80  THE  STRANGE  ATTRACTION 

up  to  it.  I've  always  wanted  to  get  away  from  home,  be 
independent.  I  want  to  write.  Don't  smile.  I  never 
expect  to  write  half  as  well  as  you  do." 

"  I'm  not  smiling.  And  why  should  you  not  write  as 
well  as  I  do?  " 

"  Well,  I  never  expect  to,  but  I  want  to  write.  I  won 
a  prize  story  in  the  Weekly  News  a  few  years  ago  and  that 
set  me  going.  But  I  don't  expect  to  do  it  yet,  nothing 
much  before  I  am  thirty.  And  dad  said  I'd  better  get  a 
practical  education  as  well.  And  so  I  took  a  commercial 
course.  And  then  I  thought  I'd  better  get  on  a  paper. 
I  was  on  the  Star  for  a  while — society,  rotten  job.  I 
couldn't  stick  it.  And  then  dad  got  in  with  the  Xezcs 
committee  here  and  sent  Bob  up.  He  was  on  the  Herald. 
And  Bob  saw  it  would  take  two  of  us.  And  he  offered 
it  to  me  and  here  I  am.  Of  course  that's  not  quite  the 
whole  of  it." 

"  Nothing  ever  is  the  whole  of  it.  But  why  should  you 
want  to  write  when  you  can  play  the  piano  as  you  do  ?  " 

"  Why,  I  want  to  earn  my  own  living,  be  independent." 

"  But  you  could  do  that  with  your  music."  He  turned 
and  looked  at  her. 

"  What !  I  care  too  much  for  music  to  play  it  in 
public!  To  a  pack  of  unsympathetic  boobs  who  rustle 
programmes  and  wriggle  in  squeaky  chairs!  Not  I!  I 
never  played  in  public.  I  couldn't  even  play  to  my  rela- 
tives. If  there  was  one  person  around  who  did  not  like 
music  I  should  get  up  and  smash  something." 

He  was  astonished  at  the  intensity  that  had  welled  up 
in  her.  She  threw  her  cigarette  away  and  sat  up  very 
straight  glaring  at  him. 

"  But  you  play  at  Mac's?  "  he  said. 

"  Oh  there,  yes,  places  like  that,  yes,  but  not  on  the 
stage." 


THE  STRANGE  ATTRACTION  81 

"  I  understand  that.  They  wanted  me  to  go  on  the 
stage  when  I  was  a  boy,  but  I  could  not  sing  that  way." 

"  Oh."  She  turned  warmly  to  him.  She  was  craving 
to  have  him  talk  about  himself.  "  But  you  sang  one  night 
in  the  hotel." 

"  Yes." 

"  Why  didn't  you  go  on?  " 

"  Oh,  I  don't  know.     Did  you  want  me  to?  " 

"  Of  course." 

They  both  looked  out  over  the  gray  sea  for  some 
minutes. 

"  You  know  dad  pretty  well,  don't  you  ?  "  she  began 
again. 

"  I've  met  him  several  times.  He's  a  ripping  good 
sport." 

"  Yes,  isn't  he  quite  something  of  a  father  ?  He  and 
I  always  stood  together.  I  don't  know  where  I  would 
have  been  but  for  him.  It  was  he  and  I  against  the  rest 
of  them.  The  relatives,  you  know.  Awful  bunch! 
Awful!" 

She  felt  the  smile  playing  about  his  face. 

"  Didn't  you  run  away  from  them  once,  or  something?  " 
He  was  curious  now  to  hear  her  version  of  the  tale. 

"  Why,  where  did  you  hear  that  ?  " 

"  I  was  in  New  Zealand  at  the  time,  on  a  visit  in  the 
South  Island.  And  the  story  stuck  in  my  memory  along 
with  your  name.  It  was  quite  an  adventure,  wasn't  it?  " 

"  It  was,"  she  laughed. 

"  Do  tell  me  about  it." 

"  It  is  a  long  story." 

"  Well,  what  of  that?     I  want  to  hear  it." 

She  felt  warm  and  excited  at  his  interest.  "  It  was 
more  than  an  adventure,"  she  began,  "  it  was  a  crisis.  It 
was  my  last  stand  for  liberty." 


82  THE  STRANGE  ATTRACTION 

"  Good  Lord !     How  old  were  you?  " 

"  Fifteen." 

"  Liberty  at  fifteen !     All  right.     Go  on." 

"  I  won't  if  you  are  going  to  laugh  at  me." 

"  Go  on,"  he  insisted,  flashing  a  disrupting  look  at  her. 


"  Well,  it  all  goes  back  to  the  fact  that  I  happened  to 
be  born  among  my  relatives." 

"  Most  things  seem  to  go  back  to  that." 

"  Yes,  don't  they?  And  you  see,  they  could  never  ac- 
count for  me  any  more  than  I  could  account  for  them,  and 
the  trouble  was  that  they  were  always  trying  to  account 
for  me,  while  I  had  the  sense  to  accept  them  for  what  they 
were.  You  know  the  kind  of  thing  my  family  is." 

"  Let's  see.  Coronetted  stationary,  the  younger  son 
end  of  it,  a  name  that  goes  back  to  property  in  the  Dooms- 
day Book,  women  who  read  The  Queen  and  know  every 
ramification  of  the  Royal  Family." 

She  laughed  delightedly.  "  That's  exactly  it.  And 
they  were  probably  a  nice  harmless  lot  in  England,  but 
something  happened  to  them  on  the  voyage  out.  They 
were  gods  when  they  got  here,  and  as  gods  they  set  them- 
selves up.  There  were  an  awful  lot  of  them  all  under  the 
Elegancies,  my  mother's  parents,  3rou  know.  She  was  one 
of  seven,  and  then  there  were  the  aunts  and  some  old 
cousins,  quite  a  party.  And  the  Elegancies  ruled  them 
all.  They  were  beautiful  old  pictures,  I  grant  you  that. 

"  Well,  you  know,  they  ran  Auckland  society.  They 
gave  two  balls  every  winter  that  decided  who  was  '  in  '  and 
who  was  '  out.'  They  entertained  the  Governors.  They 
were  old  personal  friends  of  Sir  George  Grey.  And  no- 
body ever  questioned  their  right  to  rule  like  that — till  I 


THE  STRANGE  ATTRACTION  83 

came  along.  They  captured  dad  for  mother  as  they 
captured  men  for  every  daughter  but  poor  Aunt  Maud. 
That  failure  must  have  cost  them  some  sad  hours.  Well, 
to  come  to  me.  Goodness  knows  what  happened  to  me 
when  I  was  an  egg,  but  I  got  a  queer  poke  from  somewhere. 
Do  you  ever  try  to  account  for  yourself?  " 

"  Quite  often,"  he  smiled.  "  Go  on,  I'm  awfully  inter- 
ested." 

Feeling  that  he  really  was,  Valerie  loosened  up  as  she 
went  on.  It  seemed  a  long  while  since  she  had  had  some- 
one to  talk  to.  He  puffed  contentedly  at  his  pipe,  nod- 
ding occasionally,  turning  his  face  to  her  and  smiling  as 
she  got  more  worked  up  with  her  story. 

"  Well,  I  was  the  third  child,  all  girls  to  dad's  disgust. 
But  he  always  said  I  was  a  mistake  in  form.  And  then  I 
had  a  queer  twist.  I  couldn't  believe  the  things  that  were 
told  me.  Something  used  to  come  up  in  my  throat  and 
say  it  was  all  wrong.  And  I  had  a  most  awful  temper. 
I  don't  know  what  would  have  happened  to  me  but  for 
dad  and  the  servants,  because  I  couldn't  stick  the  things 
the  others  did.  And  it  was  a  fight.  I  was  always  being 
sent  to  bed  without  food,  and  the  governess  was  always 
sneaking  it  up  to  me,  God  bless  her!  And  I  was  always 
running  out  with  my  woes  to  the  gardener.  He  was  Irish, 
God  bless  him!  I'm  afraid  I  had  no  class  loyalty.  My 
best  friends  were  the  servants.  It  was  better  when  I 
learned  to  play  the  piano  and  could  read.  And  then  dad 
got  horses  and  the  yacht,  and  the  Lorrimers  came  to  live 
next  door.  Bob  and  his  sister  had  my  kind  of  disease,  too, 
in  those  days,  and  we  had  a  conspiracy  of  our  own.  And 
there  was  a  lot  that  was  glorious.  We  had  a  beautiful 
place.  You  know  that  point  in  Remuera  with  a  lot  of 
pines  out  on  the  end.  And  I  used  to  sit  on  the  rocks  there 
and  watch  the  seagulls  and  dream  of  London  and  of  living 


84  THE  STRANGE  ATTRACTION 

by  myself  and  being  famous.  Well,  I  must  get  on  witK 
the  story. 

"  Of  course  the  relatives  opposed  everything  I  ever 
wanted  to  do.  But  dad  stood  by  me.  He  let  me  go  to  the 
grammar  school.  Of  course  I  got  on.  Learning  was  no 
trouble  to  me.  And  I  won  a  host  of  prizes  that  first  year. 
And  of  course  I  went  home  a  little  puffed  up,  and  I 
thought  at  last  they  would  be  proud  of  me.  But  Bob  had 
taught  his  sister  Doris  and  me  to  smoke  cigarettes.  It's 
funny  now  to  think  what  that  meant  ten  years  ago.  And 
the  week  after  I  got  home  mother  poked  about  in  my 
things,  and  found  a  packet  of  cigarettes  and  a  love  letter 
from  some  boy  in  one  of  my  boxes.  Well,  I  never  poked 
about  in  anybody's  things.  I  know  what  I  think  about 
people  who  do.  And  when  the  people  who  did  things  like 
that  to  me  came  to  talk  to  me  of  morality  or  behaviour 
they  couldn't  impress  me  at  all." 

She  paused  for  a  moment,  clasping  her  hands  round  her 
knees. 

"  Well,  this  was  the  grand  row.  Dad  was  away  on  the 
yacht.  Mother  summoned  the  Elegancies.  I  knew  some- 
thing was  up  and  I  was  fighting  mad.  You  see,  I  was  so 
sick  of  it.  There'd  been  a  row  when  they  found  I  wasn't 
in  bed  at  ten  one  night  and  that  I  was  sitting  on  the  point 
wrapped  up  in  a  rug  listening  to  a  glorious  gale.  That 
was  wrong.  There'd  been  a  row  when  I  was  discovered 
talking  to  the  gardener  in  his  room  one  night.  They 
would  have  sacked  him  but  for  dad.  That  was  wrong. 
There'd  been  a  row  when  they  found  Byron's  poems  under 
my  pillow.  That  was  wrong.  There'd  been  rows  when  I 
wouldn't  go  to  stupid  girls'  parties,  when  I  wouldn't  go  to 
the  Elegancies  for  Christmas  dinner  (that  was  an  awful 
one),  when  I  wouldn't  go  to  boarding-school,  when  I 
stopped  saying  my  prayers,  and  when  I  wouldn't  be  con- 


85 

firmed.  And  I  knew  they  just  had  the  habit  of  opposi- 
tion. But  of  course  it  was  awful.  I'm  not  saying  that  it 
wasn't.  And  I  was  so  sick  of  it.  But  I  had  learned  they 
couldn't  do  anything  to  me.  I  remember  how  wonderful  it 
was  when  I  discovered  that  they  could  not  put  me  down 
the  well  in  a  sack,  or  lock  me  up  in  a  cupboard,  or  things 
like  that;  that  all  they  could  do  was  just  talk.  And  my 
dear  old  governess  had  taught  me  a  wonderful  thing  when 
I  was  a  little  child,  when  Daphne  and  Rose  used  to  pester 
me.  You  know  that  silly  little  jingle,  *  Sticks  and  stones 
may  break  my  bones,  but  names  can  never  hurt  me  '  ?  I 
can  see  her  now  as  she  said  it,  dear  old  thing.  And  I 
learned  the  philosophy  in  that  old  jingle,  and  it  was  a 
grand  weapon.  Of  course  I  had  ceased  to  be  a  lady  so 
often  that  the  word  came  to  mean  nothing.  What  I  found 
was  that  I  was  still  myself,  with  my  own  loves  and  hates,  no 
matter  what  they  called  me.  Goodness!  I  am  rambling. 
Does  this  bore  you?  You  see  it's  wonderful  to  have  some- 
one to  talk  to." 

She  peered  into  his  face.     He  saw  she  was  excited. 

"  I  was  just  thinking  how  fine  it  was  to  hear  someone 
really  talk  again.  Go  on.  You  are  not  boring  me  at  all." 

"  Of  course  I  know  now  that  it  was  just  as  hard  on 
them,  poor  things,  as  it  was  on  me.  I  must  have  been  a 
horrid  little  brute  from  their  point  of  view.  But  I  seemed 
so  right  to  myself.  It's  funny  how  harmless  we  seem  to 
ourselves,  isn't  it?  And  the  governess  thought  I  was  right, 
and  dad  kept  telling  me  to  go  ahead.  Well,  to  come  back 
to  the  cigarettes.  Smoking  seemed  funny  to  me,  just  a 
lark,  not  to  be  compared  with  telling  tales  and  doing 
sneaky  things.  But  the  dear  relatives  thought  otherwise. 
So  mother  got  her  moral  props,  the  Elegancies,  old  mum- 
mies that  they  were  then,  Aunt  Maud,  whom  I  particularly 
hated,  and  a  brother  and  a  sister.  The  idea  was,  I  sup- 


86  THE  STRANGE  ATTRACTION 

pose,  to  finish  me  with  this  weight  of  family  majesty.  Of 
course,  if  dad  had  been  home  she  would  not  have  done  it. 
Well,  we  sat  down  to  dinner,  but  if  an  avalanche  is  going 
to  fall  on  me  I'm  not  going  to  sit  idle  and  watch  it  coming 
down.  So  I  asked  mother  what  the  matter  was.  She  said 
I  would  know  presently.  I  said  I'd  know  then,  or  leave 
the  table  and  go  to  eat  with  the  servants.  My  old  grand- 
father held  up  a  hand  in  the  way  he  had  always  done  to 
annihilate  opinion.  Something  happened  to  me.  I  shouted 
at  him  to  mind  his  own  business,  that  as  far  as  I  was  con- 
cerned he  was  dead.  I  wish  you  could  have  seen  the  faces. 
I'm  sure  they  thought  the  moon  and  stars  were  coming 
right  through  the  ceiling.  If  I'd  had  a  dozen  hands  with 
pistols  in  each  pointing  at  their  heads  they  could  not  have 
looked  more  staggered.  They  were  a  ridiculous  spectacle, 
and  I  lost  my  temper  and  told  them  what  I  thought  of 
them.  I  made  mother  tell  me  about  the  letter  and  the 
cigarettes,  and  then  I  let  them  have  it — all  the  bottled-up 
rage  of  my  youth.  Of  course  I  was  abominable.  I  glo- 
ried in  the  mess  I  was  making  of  their  nerves.  Nothing 
short  of  physical  force  could  have  stopped  me,  and  they 
didn't  know  what  to  do  with  me.  Mother  took  hysterics 
and  Aunt  Maud  wept.  When  I  was  done  I  was  sick  too. 
Then  I  stalked  out  and  left  them. 

"  I  went  down  to  the  rocks  and  the  boathouse,  and  pres- 
ently Bob  came;  I'd  told  him  something  was  up.  And  I 
told  him  I  was  'going  to  run  away  and  settle  the  thing. 
Well,  he'd  had  a  row  too.  The  Bishop  had  found  out  he 
was  reading  Ingersoll.  So  we  decided  we'd  both  go.  I 
guess  I  egged  Bob  on.  I  had  three  pounds  in  my  money  box 
and  he  had  five.  We  got  out  that  night  about  midnight. 
I  was  thrilled  with  the  idea  and  quite  reckless.  I  had  a 
beauty  of  a  little  boat  that  we  could  sail  or  row,  and  he 
had  a  tent,  and  we  sneaked  out  no  end  of  things,  my  man- 


THE  STRANGE  ATTRACTION  87 

dolin  and  his  banjo,  Stevenson's  Wrecker  and  Treas- 
ure Island,  a  notebook  for  a  diary  and  rugs  and  clothes. 
And  there  was  a  lot  of  stuff  handy  in  the  boathouse.  It 
was  a  glorious  night.  Bob  and  I  had  often  been  off  with 
dad  on  the  yacht,  you  know.  We  could  do  everything, 
and  there  was  nothing  to  scare  us  about  the  night. 

"  Would  you  believe  it,  we  managed  it  for  a  week.  We 
got  over  to  Birkenhead  the  first  night,  and  lay  up  a  creek, 
and  first  thing  in  the  morning  we  went  and  bought  all  the 
food  we  could  carry.  Then  we  had  to  hide  for  the  day. 
The  next  night  we  got  out  of  the  harbour.  We  were  aw- 
fully scared  we  would  be  nabbed,  but  we  learned  after- 
wards that  mother,  terrified  out  of  her  wits,  would  do 
nothing  till  dad  got  back,  and  wouldn't  allow  Bishop  Lor- 
rimer  to  do  anything  either.  Oh,  I  forgot  to  say  I'd  left 
a  note  to  dad,  which  mother,  of  course,  read,  saying 
sweetly  that  I  was  running  away  with  Bob  Lorrimer.  I 
did  not  see  at  the  time  what  a  thunderbolt  that  would  be. 
And  mother  was  more  afraid  of  the  scandal  than  she  was 
of  our  health.  We  ran  away  on  the  Saturday  night,  and 
it  was  Monday  morning  before  dad  knew.  That  let  us 
clear  Auckland  harbour  and  get  up  the  coast. 

"  You  know,  it  was  just  wonderful!  We  had  to  travel 
at  night,  row  and  sail,  and  sleep  by  day  hidden  at  the 
backs  of  the  bays  in  little  creeks.  And  I  said  the  weather 
god  loved  us,  for  it  was  the  most  beautiful  week,  and  the 
phosphorus  out  there  in  the  channel  at  night!  And  of 
course  there  never  were  such  stars!  I  can  thrill  with  it 
all  now.  I  never  thought  of  the  relatives.  I  knew  they 
could  do  no  more  to  me.  But  Bob  was  scared  at  first  and 
did  not  get  reckless  till  the  third  day.  He  really  was  a 
fine  old  Red  Indian,  and  we  were  just  a  pair  of  sweet  kids, 
with  no  idea  what  was  being  said  about  us.  Well,  we 
came  to  the  end  of  our  food,  and  to  our  last  night.  We 


88  THE  STRANGE  ATTRACTION 

knew  we  would  have  to  go  to  Kauwau  Island  the  next  day 
and  get  some  more,  and  we  guessed  that  would  be  the  end 
of  it.  So  we  made  a  night  of  it.  We  had  a  fire,  and  we 
played,  and  we  talked  about  religion  and  our  ambitions, 
and  nerved  ourselves  up  to  face  the  music.  And  a  man 
riding  for  a  doctor  for  a  sick  wife  heard  our  banjo  and 
mandolin,  for  by  that  time  the  whole  of  New  Zealand  was 
listening  for  them,  and  he  got  on  the  telephone,  and  first 
thing  in  the  morning  we  were  nabbed  by  two  jolly  yachts- 
men who  had  been  hunting  us  for  days.  It  was  thrilling 
to  be  caught.  And  my,  what  a  row  we  had  made." 

Dane  chuckled  with  her.  "  You  certainly  did.  I  remem- 
ber it.  But  the  papers  made  out  a  grand  case  for  you, 
didn't  they?  " 

"  Oh,  they  were  beautiful,  and  so  was  dad.  He  had  the 
Auckland  reporters  to  meet  us  at  his  office  soon  after  we 
got  there.  They  read  our  diary,  heard  what  we  had  eaten 
and  read  and  said  and  thought,  and  they  came  out  with 
grandiloquent  stuff  about  the  fine  old  spirit  of  the  British 
race,  and  our  being  fired  with  the  days  of  Nelson  and 
Drake.  We  were  the  symbol  of  undying  youth  in  the 
great  empire  which  was  safe  and  sound  so  long  as  there 
was  young  blood  like  ours  to  renew  the  spirit  of  our  glori- 
ous ancestors.  You  can  imagine  what  all  that  was  to  the 
relatives." 

Dane  threw  back  his  head  and  laughed  out.  "  Grand 
old  stuff.  And  how  did  they  take  it  ?  " 

"  Well,  I  never  did  know  exactly  what  happened  in  our 
absence.  Mother  was  in  the  doctor's  hands  when  we  re- 
turned, and  I  did  not  see  her  for  a  week.  It  was  delicately 
suggested  to  me  that  I  had  shortened  her  life  by  some 
years.  She  is  still,  as  you  know,  alive  and  blooming,  and 
will  probably  live  to  put  flowers  on  my  grave.  I  did  not 
see  the  Elegancies  for  at  least  a  month.  In  fact,  every- 


THE  STRANGE  ATTRACTION  89 

body  kept  out  of  my  way.  I  got  at  what  it  was  at  last 
through  Bob.  Mother  and  the  relatives  and  the  Bishop 
and  Mrs.  Lorrimer  had  had  solemn  conferences  about  the 
advisability  of  marrying  us  at  once  on  our  return,  Bob 
eighteen,  and  me  fifteen.  But  dad  damned  them  up  hill 
and  down  dale  and  shut  them  up  somehow.  But  Bob  got 
the  worst  of  that,  and  he  ran  away  from  home  for  years, 
went  to  the  South  and  to  Australia.  And  it  was  what 
they  thought  about  Bob  and  me  that  just  finished  the 
whole  bunch  for  me.  .  .  .  There,  I  said  it  was  a  long 
story.  I  do  hope  I  haven't  bored  you." 

Her  manner  changed  suddenly. 

"  You  have  not,"  he  said,  knocking  the  ashes  out  of  his 
pipe.  "  It's  a  proper  story,  and  explains  a  lot."  He  was 
as  much  interested,  indeed  more  so,  in  the  way  she  had  told 
it  than  in  the  tale  itself. 

She  wanted  to  ask  him  questions  about  himself.  She 
felt  hot  and  very  alive,  for  she  had  got  herself  quite 
worked  up.  And  after  her  long  talk  the  silence  seemed 
abrupt  and  likely  to  become  significant.  He  looked  very 
boyish  sitting  still  with  his  hands  clasped  now  round  his 
knees,  and  his  face  turned  so  that  she  could  see  his  profile 
clearly  against  the  trunk  of  the  tree.  He  sensed  her  in- 
tensity and  wondered  if  it  was  just  her  own  dramatic  sense 
that  had  so  wound  her  up. 

"  Yes,  you  have  had  goblins  too,"  he  said,  quietly  turn- 
ing his  face  to  her.  "  I  think  it  was  pretty  fine  that  you 
could  stand  against  all  that." 

"  I  rather  liked  standing  a  lot  of  it,"  she  said  honestly. 

She  felt  the  smile  that  played  about  his  eyes.  And  then 
he  stood  up,  cutting  off  whatever  mood  they  might  have 
drifted  into. 

"  Come  on,  let's  ride  again." 

She  was  not  accustomed  to  following  the  moods  of  men. 


90  THE  STRANGE  ATTRACTION 

She  had  b"een  a  good  deal  spoiled,  and  was  used  to  having 
them  follow  her.  But  she  felt,  as  she  mounted,  that  per- 
haps at  last  she  had  met  a  man  who  could  do  a  little  man- 
aging himself.  But  she  had  a  queer  feeling  of  flatness 
after  her  eager  talking,  and  it  took  some  minutes  of  a 
brisk  canter  to  bring  her  to  a  mood  of  self-possession. 
Dane  did  not  seem  disposed  to  talk  any  more,  and  they  set 
their  horses  to  another  gallop. 

When  they  slowed  down  again  he  began  to  smoke,  and 
she  ventured  no  more  than  casual  remarks  about  men  at 
Mac's,  hoping  he  would  talk,  and  being  disappointed  that 
he  did  not.  When  they  got  to  the  ravine  she  supposed  he 
would  stop,  but  he  rode  on  with  her,  letting  his  horse  lead 
in  the  blackest  part  where  they  could  not  see  each  other  or 
even  their  own  hands  held  up  before  them.  When  they 
came  into  the  light  he  began  to  talk  of  the  sense  animals 
had  in  the  night,  and  went  on  to  tell  her  tales  of  riding  out 
in  the  great  spaces  of  Australia.  He  kept  the  talk  abso- 
lutely impersonal  till  they  came  to  the  borders  of  Darga- 
ville.  There  he  pulled  up. 

"  I'll  turn  back  here,"  he  said,  guiding  his  horse  beside 
hers.  "  Thanks  awfully,  Miss  Freedom,  for  dispersing 
the  goblins."  He  held  out  his  hand. 

For  a  moment  he  seemed  immaterial  to  her,  a  phantom 
on  a  black  horse.  But  there  stirred  about  him  an  effulgent 
warmth  that  was  anything  but  etherial.  As  she  took  his 
hot  and  nervous  hand,  she  bit  back  a  question  on  her  lips, 
for  she  wanted  it  to  come  from  him. 

"  I've  had  a  jolly  time,"  she  said  instead.  "  I  do  hope 
I  did  not  bore  you." 

"  You  did  not.  Good-night."  He  rode  off  without 
looking  back. 

She  was  conscious  of  keen  disappointment  as  she  rode 
on,  and  yet  why  she  did  not  know.  Had  she  expected 


THE  STRANGE  ATTRACTION  91 

more  response  from  him,  or  what?  He  had  got  away 
from  her  after  she  had  told  her  story,  but  he  had  seemed 
pleased  to  have  her  company.  Was  she  surprised  that 
he  had  come  so  soon  to  companionable  silences?  She  did 
not  know.  But  she  did  know  as  she  lay  wakeful  in  her 
bed  that  she  had  met  a  personality  that  was  not  to  be  dis- 
posed of  in  general  terms.  And  already  she  wondered 
when  she  would  meet  it  again. 

Dane  thought  about  her  for  a  little  while  after  he  left 
her.  The  ride  had  shaken  him  out  of  his  depression  and 
out  of  his  loneliness.  And  after  all  it  had  been  pleasant 
to  listen  to  a  girl  talk  with  the  vividness  she  had  and  the 
honesty  she  had.  And  he  realized  she  was  not  just  the 
girl  he  had  thought  her  at  the  beginning  of  the  evening. 
He  wondered  how  much  of  a  woman  she  was.  And  he 
knew,  too,  that  he  would  like  to  see  her  again. 


CHAPTER  VII 


O,    Jimmy,    you'd   better    not    come    back    to- 
night." 

"  You    can't   do   those   jobbing    proofs   by 
yourself,  Miss  Carr." 

"  Can't  I  ?  "  Valerie  smiled  up  into  the  face  of  the  boy 
who  hovered  over  her.  She  knew  he  was  longing  to  be 
asked  to  come  back  and  do  his  part  with  the  men.  "All 
right.  Then  I  will  be  glad  to  have  you  to-night.  I'll  be 
here  at  seven.  You  try  to  get  a  run  round  in  the  fresh 
air  before  you  come  in." 

"  Yes,  Miss  Carr."     He  went  out  whistling  merrily. 

Valerie  looked  at  her  watch.  It  was  half-past  five. 
Miss  Hands  came  out  of  the  composing-room. 

"  Now,  Miss  Hands,"  said  Valerie,  "  I  insist  that  you 
don't  come  back  to-night.  You  can  to-morrow  if  it  looks 
as  if  we  won't  get  through.  I  shall  be  sorry  I  took  that 
job,  you  know,  if  anybody  gets  sick  on  it." 

Miss  Hands'  thin  face  was  lit  with  a  sacrificial  smile. 

"  It  isn't  tiring  working  for  you,  Miss  Carr,"  she  said. 

Valerie  felt  a  sudden  gulp  in  her  throat.  The  faithful- 
ness of  these  people  sometimes  made  her  want  to  throw 
bricks  at  them.  But  she  shot  a  quick  look  at  the  woman 
who  had  been  so  easily  overwhelmed  by  a  little  ordinary 
kindness. 

"  Miss  Hands,  it  means  a  lot  to  me  to  hear  you  say 
that.  But  it's  part  of  my  job  not  to  overwork  you. 
Now  you  rest  to-night." 

Ryder  and  Johnson  came  out  of  the  composing-room 

92 


THE  STRANGE  ATTRACTION  93 

door  struggling  into  their  coats.  They  had  their  hats  on 
the  backs  of  their  heads,  and  they  lit  cigarettes  as  they 
paused. 

"  I  couldn't  quite  finish  that  sporting  copy,  Miss  Carr," 
said  Ryder.  "  I'll  come  back  to  do  it.  I  don't  like  to 
keep  my  wife  waiting  for  dinner." 

"  Thanks,  Mr.  Ryder.  But  I  don't  like  to  have  you 
come  back  for  that.  Perhaps  I  can  manage  it." 

"  Not  at  all.     I'll  be  glad  to  come  back." 

"  I'll  be  back  for  a  couple  of  hours,  Miss  Carr,"  said 
Johnson. 

"All  right,  thanks,  good-night." 

Miss  Hands  and  the  men  went  out  together.  Valerie 
stretched  herself.  "  What  a  wonderful  thing  work  is.  It 
puts  such  colour  into  people,"  she  thought. 

It  was  Thursday  evening  of  the  last  week  in  March. 
Bob  had  been  away  since  the  previous  Saturday  going 
over  part  of  the  electorate  with  Roger  Benton,  and  Valerie 
was  running  the  paper  herself.  Bob  had  left  leaders  ready 
for  the  Monday  and  the  Wednesday.  Valerie  said  she 
could  manage  one  for  Friday.  She  had  her  books  all  up 
to  date  now,  could  edit  the  telegrams  and  cablegrams,  and 
was  more  than  equal  to  the  reporting  and  paragraphing 
and  editorial  work.  It  was  not  the  paper  or  the  book- 
keeping that  troubled  her  so  much  as  the  drudgery  of  the 
proof-reading  on  the  jobbing. 

Most  New  Zealand  newspapers  have  their  own  general 
printing  plants,  and  the  News  committee  expected  in  time 
to  have  the  expenses  paid  by  the  jobbing  work  of  the  river 
towns.  There  was  only  one  way  to  beat  the  Auckland 
presses  at  this  business,  and  that  was  to  do  it  cheaper  and 
faster  than  they  could.  Valerie  took  little  interest  in  the 
bill-heads  and  circulars  and  letter-heads  and  show  sched- 
ules, and  what  interest  she  did  take  was  centred  in  John- 


94  THE  STRANGE  ATTRACTION 

son's  pride  in  turning  out  good  work.  She  only  wisHecl  Ke 
could  read  his  own  proofs,  but  that  turned  out  to 
be  mostly  her  job,  and  one  that  often  had  to  be  done  at 
night. 

The  week  that  Bob  thought  would  be  a  slack  one  turned 
out  to  be  strenuous.  On  the  Tuesday  morning  Town- 
shend,  the  owner  of  the  biggest  timber  mill  up  the  river, 
walked  into  the  office. 

"  Where's  the  boss  ?  "  he  asked  as  Valerie  got  up  from 
her  chair. 

"  I  am  for  the  present,"  she  smiled.  "  What  can  I  do 
for  you?  " 

He  looked  doubtfully  at  her.  "  Well,  I  thought  I'd  try 
you  people  on  a  job.  But  I  guess  I'd  better  send  it  on  to 
Auckland." 

"Dear  me!  Do  I  look  as  discouraging  as  all  that?" 
She  gave  him  a  ravishing  smile.  "And  it's  hardly  fair  to 
judge  the  jobbing  work  by  me,  anyway.  I  don't  do  it. 
But  we  have  one  of  the  best  men  from  Auckland  here  who 
does,  and  he's  bored  to  death  because  we  haven't  jobs 
worthy  of  his  skill.  Now  this  one  of  yours  might  just 
save  his  reason.  You  might  let  me  have  a  look  at  it." 

His  shrewd  eyes  had  lit  up  as  she  talked.  He  took  a 
bundle  of  timber  specifications  out  of  his  pocket  and  un- 
rolled them.  He  didn't  suppose  she  would  understand 
them  in  the  least.  And  she  didn't,  but  she  gazed  at  them 
with  the  greatest  interest.  There  were  fifteen  different 
kinds  of  sheets,  and  she  was  really  alarmed  at  the  multi- 
plicity of  red  and  black  lines  and  the  complicated  figures 
and  the  amount  of  careful  proof-reading  it  would  take. 
And  she  had  no  idea  whether  Johnson  could  do  it,  or 
whether  they  had  the  paper. 

"  This  looks  like  the  stuff  he's  been  itching  for,"  she 
said  warmly.  *"4  How  many  do  you  want  of  each  and  when 


THE  STRANGE  ATTRACTION  95 

do  you  want  them,  and  must  it  be  exactly  this  same  quality 
of  paper?  " 

"  I  want  five  thousand  of  each  altogether,  but  you  could 
do  it  in  lots  of  five  hundred.  I  want  the  first  lot  delivered 
next  Monday  by  the  Tangiteroria  steamer.  The  paper 
doesn't  have  to  be  identical,  but  the  nearest  you  can  do." 

"  Can  you  wait  till  this  afternoon  for  an  estimate?  You 
can  get  the  Auckland  mail  to-night  if  you  don't  like  our 
offer." 

"  Yes,  I'll  do  that.  I'm  going  to  be  here  all  day.  I'll 
come  in  about  three  o'clock.  Good-morning,"  and  he 
walked  out. 

Valerie  hurried  in  to  Johnson. 

"  I  don't  know  what  I've  let  you  in  for.  But  come  and 
look  at  this." 

They  spread  the  sheets  out  on  a  bench.  Johnson  saw 
at  once  it  was  far  and  away  the  best  job  the  place  had 
produced,  that  it  was  indeed  a  good  hard  one,  a  real  test 
of  what  he  could  do.  It  warmed  Valerie  to  see  how  keen 
he  was  to  do  it.  They  called  Ryder  into  the  conference. 

"  We  haven't  the  paper,"  he  said. 

She  looked  woefully  disappointed.  But  a  search  dis- 
closed a  few  sheets  that  would  do  as  a  specimen.  Johnson 
wrote  out  an  urgent  telegram  to  a  printing  house  in  Auck- 
land as  to  the  possibility  of  getting  paper  up  the  next  day, 
and  Jimmy  rushed  off  with  it  to  the  post-office.  Johnson 
and  Ryder  dropped  what  they  were  doing,  and  started  to 
work  out  a  scale  of  prices  based  on  day  and  overtime 
rates. 

"  Would  you  work  overtime  on  it  ?  "  asked  Valerie. 

"  You  bet,  rather  than  lose  it,"  answered  Johnson. 
"  But  you  will  have  the  worst  of  it,  Miss  Carr.  It  will 
be  a  beastly  thing  to  read." 

When  Townshend  walked  in  at  three  o'clock  she  was 


96  THE  STRANGE  ATTRACTION 

ready  for  him.  He  approved  the  paper  and  the  price, 
and  she  assured  him  they  would  be  in  time. 

"All  right.     Go  ahead,"  he  smiled  into  her  keen  face. 

This  job  was  straining  the  energies  of  the  whole  office. 
Ryder  had  to  help  Johnson  on  the  difficult  setting,  and 
this  threw  a  lot  more  work  on  Miss  Hands  and  the  local 
girls  and  Jimmy.  But  the  whole  staff  rose  to  the  occa- 
sion. 


II 

After  they  had  gone  this  Thursday  evening  Valerie 
worked  on  till  a  quarter  past  six.  There  had  been  that 
week  a  return  of  heat,  a  last  flicker  of  summer.  The  office 
was  very  stuffy,  and  she  felt  tired  and  worn.  She  hurried 
to  the  hotel  for  a  quick  dinner,  hoping  she  was  not  going 
to  have  a  headache.  Her  feet  dragged  as  she  walked  to 
her  table.  This  was  one  of  the  nights  when  she  could  not 
take  Mac's  dining-room  humorously. 

"  You  do  look  so  tired,  Miss  Carr,"  said  Lizzie. 

"  I  really  am,  Lizzie,"  she  smiled  back.  She  ordered  a 
light  meal  and  held  her  head  in  her  hands.  When  she 
raised  it  again  she  saw  that  Mac  and  Dane  Barrington 
had  come  in.  They  both  nodded  at  her  smile,  and  then 
she  began  to  feel  better.  She  saw  Michael  go  to  their 
table,  but  she  did  not  notice  Mac  nod  at  her  and  give  an 
order.  As  she  began  her  dinner  the  seedy  Irishman  came 
up  to  her  with  a  bottle  of  Burgundy  and  poured  out  a 
glass. 

"  It's  the  spoiled  lady  you  are,  for  sure,"  he  said 
slyly. 

"  Ah,  it's  so  nice  to  be  spoiled,  Michael."  Her  eyes 
twinkled  at  him.  Then  she  raised  her  glass  to  the  table 
at  the  other  end  of  the  room,  oblivious  of  curious  glances 


THE  STRANGE  ATTRACTION  97 

from  men  near  by,  and  she  was  delighted  that  Dane  as 
well  as  Mac  drank  to  her  in  return.  This  incident  warmed 
her  up  to  such  an  extent  that  she  felt  better. 

Soon  after  she  got  back  to  the  office  she  felt  the  omi- 
nous return  of  her  headache.  Jimmy  had  been  waiting  on 
the  steps  for  her.  She  could  never  get  ahead  of  him.  He 
liked  to  watch  her  coming,  to  flourish  his  cap  at  her,  to 
take  the  key  and  open  the  door  and  stand  by  for  her  as  if 
she  were  a  queen.  He  did  it  all  with  a  twinkle  in  his  eye 
as  if  he  enjoyed  being  romantic. 

Soon  after  he  and  Valerie  had  settled  down  to  the  proof- 
reading Ryder  and  Johnson  came  in  and  the  jobbing  ma- 
chine began  to  shake  the  building. 

Ryder  came  out  again  at  a  quarter  past  eight  ready  to 

g°- 

"  You  look  a  bit  sick,"  he  said  to  Valerie. 

"  Yes,  I  have  a  headache." 

"Can't  you  leave  it?" 

"  No.  We'll  be  done  with  this  by  half-past  eight.  How 
much  copy  have  you  for  the  morning?  " 

"  A  column  and  a  few  sticks." 

"  That  all  ?  Well,  I  must  have  the  leader  and  the  meet- 
ing done  to-night.  I  can  manage  it.  That  sporting  copy 
of  yours  has  helped  a  lot." 

Ten  minutes  after  he  had  gone  out  she  put  down  her 
pencil.  "  Now,  Jimmy,  nothing  more.  You  get  out  of 
this  at  once." 

When  she  had  got  him  out  she  held  on  to  her  head,  feel- 
ing she  could  do  nothing  till  the  jobbing  machine  stopped. 
It  went  on  till  nine.  Then  Johnson  came  out  hot  and 
tired. 

His  intelligent  brown  eyes  looked  admiringly  at  her. 

"  I  say,  why  don't  you  knock  off?  You  look  as  if 
you'd  done  enough  for  one  day." 


98  THE  STRANGE  "ATTRACTION 

"  I  wish  I  could,  but  I've  got  to  do  a  leader  and  §,  meet-} 

ing." 

"  Sorry.    I  can't  help,  can  I?  " 

"  No  indeed,  thanks  just  the  same.    Good-night." 

Ill 

In  a  few  minutes  there  was  silence.  Few  people  went 
by  that  way  at  night  unless  there  happened  to  be  a  vessel 
at  the  station  wharf  or  freight  trains  running  late.  Rid- 
ers might  pass  after  the  hotels  were  closed.  Men  rarely 
worked  in  the  evening  in  the  nearest  stores  on  the  town 
side.  Occasionally  sounds  from  the  houses  at  the  back 
drifted  in.  Valerie  was  gladly  conscious  of  the  quiet,  but 
it  did  not  help  her  much. 

These  occasionally  devastating  headaches  were  the  one 
blot  upon  her  otherwise  vigorous  health.  Once  past  a  cer- 
tain point  they  accumulated  pain  with  express  speed,  and 
reduced  her  to  nausea  and  utter  helplessness.  She  knew 
no  cure  but  to  lie  down  and  take  a  big  dose  of  aspirin. 
Then  at  the  end  of  an  hour  she  was  all  right  again.  But 
she  had  used  up  her  stock  of  tablets  and  the  chemist  was 
now  closed.  As  the  copy  had  to  be  ready  for  Ryder  at 
half-past  eight  in  the  morning  it  could  not  be  put  off,  and 
she  knew  she  must  fight  the  pain  as  best  she  could.  She 
began  to  write  slowly  struggling  against  it.  But  her  head 
dropped  in  spite  of  her.  She  felt  as  if  she  were  going  to 
faint. 

The  opening  of  the  door  stimulated  her  to  raise  her 
face.  She  had  not  heard  steps.  In  a  mist  she  saw  Dane 
Barrington  looking  at  her  over  the  high  counter. 

"Why,  Miss  Carr,  what  is  the  matter?  You  look 
beastly  ill."  He  came  quickly  round  to  her. 

She  tried  to  keep  her  head  up.  "  It's  only  a  headache, 
and  I  must  work."  She  never  wondered  why  he  was  there. 


THE  STRANGE  ATTRACTION  99 

"  Well,  you  can't  work  looking  like  that.  Have  you 
ever  taken  aspirin?  " 

«  Yes,  but  I  haven't  any." 

"  I  have.    Will  you  take  it  and  go  home?  " 

*'  I  can't  go  home.  I  have  a  leader  to  write,  and — and 
a  meeting."  The  effort  to  keep  up  nauseated  her.  Her 
head  dropped  back  onto  her  hands. 

Dane  leaned  his  snake  stick  against  the  corner  of  her 
table,  opened  the  door  into  the  composing-room,  struck  a 
match  and  lit  a  near  gas  jet.  Then  he  hurried  to  the  back 
cloor,  opened  it  and  looked  out  into  the  small  yard  littered 
with  boxes,  barrels  and  paper.  He  saw  there  was  a  high 
wooden  fence  all  round  it  and  that  no  one  could  look  in. 
It  had  odours  of  its  own,  but  it  was  incomparably  fresher 
and  cooler  than  any  place  inside.  He  found  two  large 
sheets  of  brown  paper  on  a  bench  and  spread  them  out  on 
a  flat  place  near  a  tap  where  water  dropping  into  a 
bucket  cooled  the  air.  Then  he  went  quickly  back  to 
Valerie. 

"  Come  on,  Miss  Carr,  and  lie  down.  I've  fixed  a  clean 
place.  You'll  be  all  right  soon  if  you  keep  still." 

He  put  an  arm  round  her  and  helped  her  out.  She  did 
not  seem  conscious  of  him  at  all.  Hardly  knowing  what 
she  was  doing  she  dropped  down  on  to  the  paper  and  lay 
dizzy  with  pain.  Mechanically  she  clutched  at  her  throat. 
She  was  wearing  a  shirt-waist  with  a  collar  that  though 
soft  seemed  to  be  choking  her.  Very  deftly  with  his  sen- 
sitive hands  Dane  undid  the  knotted  tie  and  loosened  it. 
Then  he  found  a  tumbler  inside,  rinsed  it  at  the  tap  and 
filled  it. 

"  Can  you  take  a  good  dose?  "  he  asked  leaning  over 
her. 

"  Yes,  oh  yes,"  she  mumbled. 

He  took  a  little  box  out  of  his  vest  pocket,  gave  her 


100  THE  STRANGE  ATTRACTION 

five  tablets,  and  helped  her  to  drink  half  the  glass  of 
water.  Then  she  slumped  back  and  lay  still,  her  face 
livid  with  pain.  He  was  torn  with  misery  at  the  sight  of 
it.  He  searched  for  a  clean  handkerchief,  and  finding  one, 
soaked  it  in  water  and  put  it  on  her  hot  forehead.  Then 
he  undid  her  heavy  ropes  of  hair,  spread  them  out  on  the 
paper,  and  carefully  laid  the  large  amber  pins  together 
in  one  place.  Looking  at  her  thus  he  thought  her  beau- 
tiful. 

He  leaned  over  her  again.  "  Tell  me  if  you  can  what 
you  were  going  to  write  a  leader  about." 

"  The   Warendon   fire — I  wanted   to   make   it   good — 

something  on  heroism — you  know ' 

"  I  know.     I'll  do  it.    How  long  did  you  want  it?  " 
"  A  column,  if  I  could — we  need  the  copy." 
"  All  right.    I'll  do  it.    Lie  still,  and  you  will  be  better 
by  the  time  it  is  finished." 

She  was  vaguely  conscious  that  he  covered  her  up  with 
something,  and  then  that  she  was  alone.  For  a  time,  it 
seemed  an  eternity,  she  was  sure  her  head  was  flying  to 
bits.  There  were  ghastly  explosions  of  agony  when  she 
clenched  her  hands  to  keep  from  screaming,  and  then  it 
all  went  suddenly,  and  she  had  exquisite  moments  of  re- 
lief at  the  cessation  of  the  pain.  She  slid  into  dream- 
land. She  did  not  know  where  she  was  or  remember  that 
she  had  had  a  headache.  She  was  aware  of  pale  stars 
over  her  head  and  of  the  sheen  of  the  moon  tipping  over 
the  roof  of  the  office.  Then  she  thought  she  was  in  a 
boat.  She  could  hear  water.  She  tried  to  turn  her  head. 
She  was  mildly  puzzled  that  she  could  not  move  it.  She 
tried  her  arms.  They  too  were  made  of  lead.  But  she 
lay  on  untroubled  by  this  phenomenon  and  drifted  into 
curious  dreams  and  profound  oblivion. 


THE  STRANGE  ATTRACTION  101 

IV 

It  was  a  quarter  to  eleven  when  Dane  had  finished  writ- 
ing. He  was  astonished  when  he  saw  how  late  it  was. 
Valerie  must  have  fallen  asleep,  he  thought.  He  went 
quietly  out  through  the  dimly  lit  composing-room  and 
saw  from  the  doorway  that  she  lay  exactly  as  he  had  left 
her  with  his  coat  unmoved,  showing  that  she  had  never 
stirred.  He  leaned  down  to  look  at  her.  Her  face  was 
not  so  livid  now,  and  he  was  struck  again  with  the  dis- 
tinction of  it,  and  by  an  expression  of  sadness  and  dis- 
illusionment that  was  not  there  when  her  eyes  were  open 
and  her  features  ablaze  with  the  light  from  them.  No, 
she  was  not  the  mere  child  he  had  thought  her.  He  looked 
at  her  shapely,  passionate  mouth,  contrasting  with  the 
intellectual  forehead  and  the  balance  in  the  rest  of  her 
face.  That  mouth  beguiled  him,  enticed  him,  overcame 
him.  He  told  himself  he  was  a  fool  to  play  with  the  temp- 
tation to  kiss  her,  but  he  leaned  lower  and  very  delicately 
kissed  the  unconscious  lips,  thereby  stirring  in  himself 
senses  that  after  considerable  starvation  were  only  too 
ready  to  be  stirred.  He  sat  up  a  little  ashamed  of  him- 
self, but  as  she  did  not  stir  he  leaned  down  recklessly  and 
did  it  again.  He  took  up  her  ropes  of  hair  and  laid  them 
against  his  cheek  enjoying  the  fragrance  of  them.  He 
had  always  loved  women's  hair  when  it  was  soft  and  fine 
like  this.  He  was  just  thinking  she  was  very  sound  asleep 
when  a  noise  staggered  him  and  brought  him  to  his  feet 
with  a  sickening  sense  of  shock. 

What  he  distinctly  heard  was  the  opening  of  the  front 
door.  In  a  flash  it  went  through  his  mind  that  the  office 
was  lit,  that  it  was  a  public  place,  and  that  anyone  could 
come  in  as  he  himself  had  done.  And  he  was  here  in  the 
yard  with  Valerie  unconscious  and  prostrate  upon  the 


102  THE  STRANGE  ATTRACTION 

ground.  Instinctively  he  snatched  up  his  coat  and  put  it 
on  while  a  variety  of  lies  raced  through  his  mind. 

But  whatever  the  situation,  it  would  be  improved  if  she 
were  awake.  He  dropped  on  his  knees  beside  her,  took  his 
handkerchief  off  her  forehead,  and  spoke  with  anxious 
tenseness. 

"  Miss  Carr,  wake  up !  Wake  up !  You  are  all  right 
now." 

As  she  did  not  stir  he  shook  her  lightly,  but  it  had  no 
effect  upon  her.  As  he  thought  it  strange  she  should  be 
so  sound  asleep  he  heard  the  front  door  close  again.  But 
whether  the  person  who  had  closed  it  was  in  or  out  he  did 
not  know.  He  stepped  cautiously  to  the  back  door.  If 
there  was  anyone  there  who  might  come  through  there  was 
only  one  thing  for  him  to  do,  go  in  at  once  and  find  out 
what  manner  of  man  he  had  to  deal  with. 

Then  he  heard  a  very  comforting  sound,  that  of  steps 
retreating  along  the  path.  After  a  minute  or  two  of  re- 
assuring silence  in  the  building  he  stepped  inside  and 
walked  quickly  to  the  office.  There  was  no  one  there. 
He  hurried  to  the  front  door  and  saw  the  figure  of  a  man 
in  the  moonlight  going  off  towards  the  town.  He  could 
not  make  out  who  he  was.  There  was  no  one  else  about. 
He  had  been  in  tight  places  in  his  life,  but  never  had  he 
felt  more  relieved.  He  turned  the  key  in  the  lock,  put  out 
the  light,  leaving  the  office  in  darkness,  shut  the  compos- 
ing-room door,  drew  the  blinds  of  the  side  windows,  and 
went  back  to  wake  Valerie. 

He  wished  himself  out  of  this  now,  and  reflected  sadly 
what  an  everlasting  fool  he  was  with  hi's  lack  of  suspicion. 
He  ought  to  have  remembered  the  office  was  a  public  place. 
Still  at  that  hour  who  would  have  expected  anyone  to  have 
business  with  the  paper?  He  leaned  quickly  down  over 
Valerie  and  spoke  her  name.  Then  for  the  first  time  he 


THE  STRANGE  ATTRACTION      103 

noticed  her  shallow  breathing.  He  shook  her  violently, 
and  saw  that  her  eyes  opened  and  closed  with  an  uncom- 
prehending stare.  Frantically  he  found  matches,  struck 
one,  pulled  up  her  eyelid,  and  saw  the  dilated  pupil. 

His  heart  stopped.  "  My  God !  My  God !  What  have 
I  done?  "  he  groaned. 

He  dived  into  his  vest  pockets,  drew  out  two  little  boxes, 
struck  another  match  and  examined  the  contents.  Then 
he  sprang  to  his  feet.  For  a  moment  he  stood  overcome 
by  a  speechless  rage  at  this  damnable  trick  that  fate  and 
his  own  carelessness  had  played  him.  He  wondered  how 
many  men  in  the  history  of  the  world  had  gone  down  to 
obloquy  for  no  stronger  cause.  But  he  dare  not  add  in- 
action to  carelessness,  whatever  the  result  to  himself. 
There  was  nothing  to  do  but  to  trust  the  two  men  in  the 
town  he  knew  he  could  trust. 

Spreading  out  paper  on  the  composing-room  floor,  with 
great  difficulty  he  raised  Valerie  and  carried  her  in.  He 
took  in  her  hairpins  and  put  them  beside  her.  He  locked 
the  back  door.  He  hesitated  about  the  gas,  but  finally 
left  the  jet  burning  low,  in  case  she  came  to  in  his  ab- 
sence, though  he  had  little  hope  of  that.  He  went  through 
the  office  without  lighting  it,  opened  the  front  door  and 
looked  out.  He  blessed  the  regular  habits  of  the  town. 
There  was  not  a  soul  in  sight.  He  locked  the  door  behind 
him,  and  with  the  key  in  his  hand  began  to  run.  It  wor- 
ried him  dreadfully  to  think  of  Valerie  lying  on  the  floor 
even  in  the  midst  of  the  harmless  machinery.  There  might 
be  mice  or  rats. 

He  was  thankful  to  find  the  hotel  fairly  quiet.  What 
he  would  do  if  Doctor  Steele  was  away  he  did  not  know, 
but  the  doctor  was  in  the  very  first  room  he  poked  his 
head  into,  playing  poker  with  a  stranger. 

"  Lucky  I  have  my  case  here,  D.  B.,"  he  said,  when  he 


104.  THE  STRANGE  ATTRACTION 

had  heard  the  bare  facts.  "  Let's  get  Mac  and  find  out 
how  soon  we  can  bring  her  along." 

The  big  Irishman  was  in  his  own  room.  The  tale  did 
not  surprise  him  in  the  least. 

"  I'll  have  every  son  of  a out  of  the 

way  by  half-past  twelve.  Nothing  much  doing  to-night. 
I'll  clear  Mike  to  bed,  and  sit  up  for  you  myself.  Back 
door.  Come  through  the  yard." 

"  Damnation,  it's  going  to  be  risky  bringing  her  through 
the  town,"  said  Dane. 

"  Of  course,  you  bloody  fool,"  said  Mac  good-humour- 
edly,  "  don't  do  it.  Take  a  boat." 

And  though  the  distance  was  less  than  half  a  mile  that 
is  what  they  did. 

They  found  Valerie  exactly  as  Dane  had  left  her.  The 
doctor  at  once  applied  stimulants  to  her  heart  and  res- 
piration and  bent  over  her  watching,  while  Dane  stood  by 
racked  with  anxiety.  But  strained  as  he  was,  he  was 
struck  by  the  picture  the  gloomy  doctor  made  there  on 
his  knees,  playing  his  small  flashlight  over  the  face  of  the 
unconscious  Valerie  who  lay  like  the  effigy  of  a  mediaeval 
princess  on  the  top  of  her  own  sarcophagus  pale  and 
stiff. 

"  She's  all  right,  D.  B.  Splendid  heart.  She'll  come 
out  very  well." 

"Thank  God!" 

The  doctor  wrapped  round  her  a  rug  they  had  brought 
from  the  hotel,  and  drew  up  a  wooden  chair  so  that  he 
could  look  down  on  her  face.  Dane  drew  a  stool  to  the 
other  side  of  her  and  dropped  on  to  it.  After  a  few  min- 
utes the  doctor  took  out  his  watch. 

"  A  quarter  to  twelve.  Well,  we'd  better  wait  till  half- 
past.  Haven't  got  any  cards  about  you,  have  you,  Bar- 
rington?  " 


THE  STRANGE  ATTRACTION      105 

Something  on  the  expression  of  the  other  man's  face 
arrested  him. 

"Why  not  have  a  game  to  pass  the  time?  "  he  asked 
solemnly. 

"  It's  a  perfectly  good  idea,  Doc,"  smiled  Dane  with  a 
little  shrug  of  the  shoulders.  "  A  pleasant  antidote  to 
the  hour  I  have  just  spent.  You  know,  if  I  couldn't  have 
trusted  you  and  Mac  I  might  just  as  well  have  shot  my- 
self? " 

"  As  bad  as  that?  "  said  the  doctor  laconically  keeping 
his  eye  on  Valerie. 

"  Well,  it  was  for  less  than  this  that  I  was  black- 
balled in  Christchurch,"  said  Dane,  with  intense  bitter- 
ness. 

"  Yes,  it  is  unfortunate  that  men  are  often  judged  not 
for  what  they  have  done,  but  for  what  the  men  who  judge 
them  would  have  done  in  their  place." 

The  flashlight  cast  fantastic  shadows  on  the  walls 
through  the  frames  of  the  impassive  old  printing  press 
and  the  spick  and  span  jobbing  machine,  and  glittered 
on  steel  wheels  and  rods.  The  bulky  cases  of  type  loomed 
up  above  them,  and  the  heavy  tables  and  benches  added 
to  the  weight  of  the  air  in  the  close  room.  But  Dane  had 
been  afraid  to  let  the  doctor  open  the  doors  lest  at  that 
hour  of  the  night  the  light  attracting  someone  should  be 
taken  for  a  fire.  He  was  only  too  anxious  to  see  Valerie 
safe  in  her  room  in  the  hotel. 

"  Wonderful  thing,  a  woman,"  said  the  doctor  softly, 
gazing  down  at  Valerie  with  profound  reverence. 

Dane  thought  of  the  other  man's  wife  as  he  had  seen 
her  one  day  as  conspicuous  in  the  middle  of  River  Street 
as  a  red  barn  in  the  middle  of  a  ploughed  field,  as  blatant 
as  the  blaring  of  a  circus  troupe,  and  he  marvelled  at  this 
inextinguishable  charity. 


106  THE  STRANGE  ATTRACTION 

"  I  wisK  I  could  b'elieve  it  again,  Doc,"  he  said,  and 
they  fell  into  a  silence. 

At  half-past  twelve  he  investigated  the  neighbourhood 
for  signs  of  activity,  but  the  whole  place  was  peacefully 
asleep.  The  doctor  partly  roused  Valerie  when  he  picked 
her  up,  but  she  gazed  at  him  with  a  mild  surprise  and 
closed  her  eyes  again.  He  carried  her  out  to  the  boat 
while  Dane,  using  his  flashlight,  restored  the  composing- 
room  to  its  ordinary  arrangement.  He  carefully  put  the 
brown  paper  back  where  he  had  found  it,  collected  all  the 
amber  pins,  and  put  out  the  gas.  But  he  forgot  to  raise 
the  blinds.  In  the  office  he  felt  the  hand  of  fate  upon  him 
again.  The  circle  of  light  fell  on  his  stick,  which  he  had 
completely  forgotten.  Had  the  man  who  had  come  in 
recognized  that  stick?  Then  he  saw  Valerie's  coat  and 
small  bag  on  a  hook.  He  cursed  himself  for  the  worst 
fool  ever  born  as  he  gathered  them  up. 

But  he  did  feel  considerable  relief  as  he  rowed  the  boat 
along  to  the  hotel,  reflecting  as  he  looked  at  the  doctor 
sitting  with  Valerie  in  his  arms,  that  the  sleepers  in  little 
towns  don't  know  any  more  than  those  in  big  ones  what 
strange  things  may  go  on  round  them  in  the  night. 


V 

A  little  after  seven  the  next  morning  Doctor  Steele 
slipped  out  of  Bob's  room,  where  he  had  stayed  to  watch 
Valerie,  and  into  hers,  and  gave  her  a  strong  injection  of 
caffeine.  Then  he  sat  down  on  the  bed  beside  her  till  she 
roused. 

"  Why,  3octor !  "  SHe  opened  her  eyes  wider  and  wider, 
and  rubbed  them  and  started  to  raise  herself. 

"  Lie  still.  There's  nothing  the  matter.  Just  get  h'olcl 
of  yourself  and  think." 


THE  STRANGE  ATTRACTION      107 

She  looked  at  him,  puzzling  about  in  her  memory. 

"Well,  how  do  you  feel?" 

"  Feel?  "  She  shook  herself.  "  What  has  happened  to 
me?  "  Then  she  looked  at  him  in  amazement  as  if  she  did 
remember  something.  "  What  is  it,  doctor?  I  feel  stupid, 
very  heavy  in  my  head.  Aren't  I  all  right?  " 

"  Quite,"  he  said,  in  his  even  manner.  "  But  you  had  a 
headache  last  night,  do  you  remember?  In  the  office?  " 

She  struggled  to  clear  the  fog  in  her  mind.  "  Why, 
yes,  I  had.  I  remember  now."  Her  eyes  widened  again. 
And  he  saw  a  tense  enquiry  in  them. 

"  What  do  you  remember?  "  he  asked. 

She  hesitated.  "  Why,  I — I  just  had  a  headache.  But 
it  was  very  bad.  I  do  get  them  very  bad.  Did  I  try  to 
come  home  and  faint,  or  what?  " 

"H'm!"  he  thought  to  himself.  "You're  on  the  de- 
fensive for  him  already." 

"  No,"  he  went  on  aloud,  "  you  didn't  faint.  You  re- 
member that  Barrington  went  into  the  office?  Well,  he 
gave  you  morphia  in  mistake  for  aspirin,  one  and  a  quarter 
grains,  a  nice  little  dose." 

"  Oh,  heavens !  Well,  please  don't  blame  him.  It  hasn't 
done  me  any  harm.  I  do  hope  nobody  knows." 

Something  like  a  smile  gathered  at  the  back  of  the 
doctor's  sepulchral  eyes.  "  Nobody  who  will  ever  mention 
it,  my  dear  young  lady,  only  Mac  and  myself.  We  keep 
the  secrets  of  this  town.  Now  presently,  when  Father 
Ryan  goes  down  to  breakfast,  Barrington  will  slip  in 
here  to  tell  you  about  it.  I'll  see  there  is  nobody  around. 
You  can  get  up  when  he  has  gone.  Drink  all  the  strong 
coffee  you  can  for  breakfast  and  eat  plainly.  You'll  feel 
stupid  perhaps  all  day.  But  you're  all  right  now." 

He  stood  up  as  he  finished,  and  with  a  laconic  nod  he 
went  quietly  out. 


108  THE  STRANGE  ATTRACTION 

He  left  behind  him  a  patient  who  was  stimulated  with 
more  than  the  caffeine.  Valerie  heard  low  sounds  in  the 
next  room  and  hoped  Father  Ryan  would  go  down  early 
as  he  usually  did.  She  tried  to  think  back  over  the  even- 
ing before,  but  everything  was  blank  after  the  appear- 
ance of  Dane's  face  over  the  counter.  She  was  very  curi- 
ous now  to  know  what  had  happened.  Then  she  heard 
Father  Ryan  close  his  door  and  go  off  along  the  hall. 
She  wondered  if  he  had  heard  anything  in  the  night.  But, 
she  reflected,  he  would  never  tell. 

She  heard  a  low  knock  on  her  door.  In  answer  to  her 
quick  reply  Dane  came  through  it  in  stockinged  feet  and 
closed  it  behind  him. 

Valerie  had  raised  herself  on  her  pillows  and  her  abun- 
dant hair  fell  about  her  like  a  cascade  of  gold,  but  she 
saw  at  once  that  he  was  quite  oblivious  of  the  fact  that 
she  was  in  bed  or  that  she  had  any  hair  at  all.  He 
moved  forward  to  the  bedside  near  the  foot,  and  looked 
at  her  with  intensely  worried  eyes.  His  face  was  strained 
and  she  knew  he  had  not  slept. 

"  Oh,  Miss  Carr,"  he  began  at  once  in  a  nervous  whis- 
per, "  can  you  believe  me  and  forgive  my  damned  care- 
lessness? I  gave  you  morphia  last  night  by  mistake.  I 
had  aspirin."  He  put  his  hands  to  his  pockets  and  pulled 
out  the  two  little  boxes.  "  But  somehow  in  my  hurry  and 
in  the  bad  light  I  got  the  wrong  thing.  You  were 
suffering  so  badly.  You  see."  He  held  the  boxes  out  to 
her. 

Valerie  spoke  slowly  for  it  was  still  an  effort  to  talk. 
"  Oh,  my  dear  man,  you  don't  have  to  produce  any  evi- 
dence." 

"You  believe  me?" 

"  Good  Lord!  May  I  ask  why  I  shouldn't  believe  you? 
Why,  you  look  as  if  you'd  never  been  believed  before !  " 


THE  STRANGE  ATTRACTION  109 

For  he  had  looked  at  her  out  of  most  grateful  but  rather 
incredulous  eyes. 

"  When  I  can  tell  you  the  story  I  think  you'll  under- 
stand. The  thing  that  is  worrying  me  still  is  that  some- 
body came  in  when  I  had  you  in  the  yard,  when  I  found 
I  couldn't  wake  you.  I  don't  know  who  it  was,  but  he 
went  out  again  almost  at  once.  He  didn't  see  us,  I'm  sure, 
but  I'd  left  my  stick  hi  there " 

"  Oh,  don't  let  that  worry  you  for  a  minute."  She 
had  recovered  sufficiently  to  put  contempt  into  her  tone. 

"  I  came  at  once  for  the  doctor,"  he  went  on,  "  and  we 
had  to  tell  Mac.  But  he  is  absolutely  trustworthy ' 

"  Heavens  above !  "  she  broke  in,  "  what  are  you  talking 
about?  What  are  you  afraid  of?  " 

"  Oh,  Miss  Carr,"  he  threw  out  his  hands,  and  shook 
his  head.  "  If  you'd  been  hit  as  I  have " 

"  My  friend,  if  the  other  women  you  have  known  have 
been  malignant  beasts,  please  don't  judge  me  by  them. 
It's  not  very  complimentary  to  me  or  to  your  own  judg- 
ment." 

Something  in  her  eyes  hypnotized  him  and  his  mobile 
face  lightened. 

"  I  apologize  for  my  judgment.  I'm  afraid  it  never  has 
been  very  good.  Now  I  want  to  know  if  I  can't  help  you 
to-day.  You  won't  feel  like  work.  Is  there  anything  I 
could  write  here  and  send  along?  " 

"  You  did  the  leader?  "  She  was  beginning  to  think 
quite  clearly  now. 

"  Yes,  a  column.  And  I  wrote  up  an  interesting  bit  of 
news  I  got  yesterday  about  an  Englishman  up  at  Town- 
shend's  mill  who  has  just  come  into  a  fortune.  I  know 
him,  and  the  news  is  accurate.  You  will  have  it  ahead  of 
the  Auckland  papers.  I  did  nearly  a  column  of  that, 
thinking  you  could  cut  it  if  you  did  not  want  it  all.  That's 


110  THE  STRANGE  ATTRACTION 

what  I  stopped  in  to  give  you  last  night.  I  was  going  to 
bring  it  in  this  morning,  but  seeing  your  light  as  I  was 
going  home  I  changed  my  mind." 

"  Oh,  that  was  awfully  good  of  you.  Then  I've  got  all 
I  need.  There  isn't  anything  else  you  can  do.  I  can  man- 
age it  all." 

"Are  you  sure?  You're  really  all  right?"  He  was 
seeing  the  woman  now,  her  flushed  face  and  bright  eyes 
set  in  the  cloud  of  hair. 

"  Quite.  You  had  a  much  worse  night  than  I  did.  But 
now,  please  forget  it."  She  held  out  her  hand. 

He  took  it,  raised  it  to  his  lips,  kissed  it  twice,  dropped 
it  without  looking  at  her,  and  slipped  out  of  the  door. 

She  stared  for  some  seconds  at  the  place  where  he  had 
disappeared.  "  Well !  Romantic !  that  man !  But  why 
am  I  surprised?  " 

Then  she  thought  over  what  he  had  told  her.  And  then 
she  felt  a  chill  upon  this  rather  exciting  event.  She  won- 
dered whether  he  made  a  habit  of  taking  morphia. 

She  was  in  the  office  at  nine  o'clock  reading  his  leader. 
It  was  a  beautiful  bit  of  writing,  so  out  of  the  common 
rut  of  such  work  that  it  was  copied  in  full  afterwards 
by  a  number  of  papers  with  comments  on  the  inspired 
moment  that  had  fallen  upon  the  editor  of  the  News. 
Then  she  read  the  account  of  the  Englishman  and  his 
windfall.  It  was  excellent  journalism.  She  would  not  cut 
a  word  of  it.  She  labelled  both  and  took  them  in  to  the 
foreman. 

Later  in  the  Hay  Ryder  looked  at  her  curiously.  He 
alone  of  the  staff  had  noticed  that  she  was  not  quite  her- 
self. 

"  Bully  stuff,  that  leader,  Miss  Carr,"  he  said. 

"  Yes,  isn't  it?  Mr.  Barrington  gave  it  to  me  last  night 
with  the  other  copy." 


THE  STRANGE  ATTRACTION  111 

Ryder  did  not  tell  her  that  he  guessed  who  had  jmttefl 
it.  He  did  not  ask  her  why  he  found  the  office  empty 
the  night  before  when  he  had  stepped  in  as  he  was  going 
by  to  see  if  her  head  was  better.  He  had  seen  her  hat  and 
coat,  and  he  had  seen  Dane  Barrington's  stick.  He  had 
just  observed  these  things  and  had  gone  out.  And  he  did 
not  ask  her  why  he  had  found  the  blinds  drawn  all  round 
the  composing-room  that  morning.  And  neither  Valerie 
nor  Dane  ever  learned  who  it  was  who  had  opened  and 
closed  the  front  door. 


CHAPTER  VIII 


VALERIE  lay  in  the  shade  of  a  solitary  clump  of 
five  stunted  trees  on  the  edge  of  the  cliffs  about 
two  miles  north  of  the  ravine.  It  was  the  Sun- 
day following  the  headache.  She  had  finished  up  her 
work  that  morning,  buoyed  up  by  the  thought  that  she 
would  get  out  to  the  sea  in  the  afternoon.  It  was  a  fine 
windy  day,  cool  and  clear.  The  breeze  was  strong  on  the 
cliffs  and  below  her  the  surf  tumbled  riotously. 

She  had  found  on  the  very  edge  of  the  cliffs  a  rush- 
grown  pocket  like  the  pit  of  an  old  Maori  fortification, 
with  one  end  worn  down  so  that  sitting  she  could  see  the 
surf  splintering  itself  into  harmless  froth  below.  She  sat 
down,  drew  her  chin  up  to  her  knees,  and  began  to  dream 
of  that  magnificent  future  when  she  should  have  literary 
London  at  her  feet.  Then  she  turned  to  the  last  number 
of  the  Sydney  Bulletin  that  she  had  brought  with  her, 
and  reading,  grew  dozy  and  settled  herself  to  sleep.  She 
lay  on  her  side  facing  the  sea,  with  a  light  cloak  drawn 
partly  over  her  and  the  sun  and  wind  burning  her  right 
cheek. 

And  it  was  thus,  unconscious,  that  Dane  wandering 
along  the  cliffs  came  noiselessly  upon  her. 

Astonished  and  then  amused  he  stood  looking  down  on 
her.  He  had  taken  his  pipe  from  his  mouth  at  the  first 
sight  of  her,  but  he  put  it  back  and  puffed  on.  He  was 
aware  of  the  fine  lines  of  her  figure  under  her  serge  dress 
and  the  cloak,  and  of  the  easy  way  she  lay.  He  was 
vaguely  regretful  that  a  soft  hat  kept  the  sunlight  off  her 

112 


THE  STRANGE  ATTRACTION  113 

Hair.  He  remembered  how  she  had  looked  when  he  had 
kissed  her.  He  had  a  ridiculous  impulse  to  kiss  her  again, 
to  waken  her  with  his  kisses,  and  to  hear  what  she  would 
say.  He  was  conscious,  too,  as  he  looked  at  her  that  he 
had  been  lonely  for  a  long  time. 

He  told  himself  to  go  on.     But  something  held  him. 

He  had  never  analyzed,  any  more  than  anyone  else  ever 
does,  the  beginnings  of  adventures  in  friendship.  He  had 
always  drifted  pleasantly,  unquestioningly,  into  acquaint- 
ance with  women  as  if  there  never  was  any  further  stage 
in  the  relationship.  He  had  learned  little  from  the  ex- 
perience that  the  affair  almost  always  proceeded  on  some 
inner  compulsions  of  its  own  to  the  passionate  and  then  to 
the  tragic  climax.  Born  to  love  life  and  love  and  to 
respect  them  both,  he  had  taken  them  in  their  flow  with 
simplicity  and  childlike  trust,  and  with  for  a  long  time 
an  incurable  ignorance  of  the  unpleasant  fact  that  life 
and  love  by  no  means  meant  the  same  thing  to  all  men 
or  to  all  women.  He  had  been  a  trustful  lover,  and  in- 
evitably a  betrayed  and  terribly  hurt  lover,  quite  unable 
to  realize  the  effect  of  his  looks  on  women  who  had  nothing 
more  to  give  him  than  a  crazed  infatuation. 

He  had  loved  for  their  beauty  and  charm  a  few  un- 
scrupulous women  who  had  left  him  bereft  of  any  idea  as 
to  why  their  affections  did  not  last.  He  could  never  im- 
agine what  it  was  that  had  wrecked  the  ship  on  a  smiling 
sea,  for  he  never  looked  out  for  sunken  derelicts,  but  was 
always  gazing  at  the  stars  or  searching  for  enchanted 
islands  on  the  skyline.  He  had  been  astounded  and  then 
embittered  to  learn  the  tales  that  were  told  of  him.  Why 
of  him  and  not  of  others,  he  wondered.  In  fact,  like  many 
artists  of  exquisite  sensibility  and  far-reaching  imagina- 
tion, he  lived  in  a  continual  state  of  wonder  at  the  goings 
on  in  the  world  about  him,  at  motives  that  were  not 


THE  STRANGE  ATTRACTION 

his,  fit  animosities  he  could  never  feel,  at  rivalries 
that  never  touched  him,  at  meannesses  that  could  not 
have  lived  for  a  moment  in  the  generous  expanses  of  his 
mind. 

But,  as  he  looked  now  at  Valerie,  he  f(3rgot  what  other 
women  had  done  to  him.  He  moved  very  quietly  to  sit 
down  on  the  edge  of  the  hollow  till  she  should  wake.  But 
something,  the  sense  of  life,  or  the  smell  of  his  pipe 
startled  her,  and  she  sat  up  quickly,  and  seeing  him  rubbed 
her  eyes  as  if  she  were  in  a  dream. 

"  Why,  it  is  you!  "  she  said,  staring  at  him. 

He  looked  down  whimsically  at  himself  as  if  he  needed 
corroboration,  and  then  he  smiled  at  her.  Now,  as  for  the 
first  time  she  saw  him  in  broad  daylight,  she  saw  that  the 
sun  worked  magic  in  his  eyes,  turning  them  to  gentian 
blue,  and  that  something  in  the  optical  machinery  in  his 
head  darkened  and  lightened  them,  as  if  they  were  lenses 
at  the  ends  of  tubes  lit  and  dimmed  by  multiple  lights 
and  screens  behind.  And  she  thought  of  the  words  the 
King  of  the  City  said  to  Shri  in  the  old  Sanscrit  tale, 
"  Thy  dark  blue  eyes  have  utterly  destroyed  my  sense  of 
right  and  wrong,  which  are  now  mere  words  without  mean- 
ing, impotent  to  hold  me." 

"  I  didn't  mean  to  wake  you.  I  was  going  to  play  the 
guardian  knight.  You  are  all  right  again?  I  rode  in  on 
Friday  evening  to  ask  Doc  Steele." 

"  I  know  you  did.  He  told  me.  Now  tell  me  the  story. 
What  did  you  do  with  me?  " 

With  the  omission  of  his  own  emotional  moments  he 
told  what  had  happened  without  elaboration.  SKe 
watched  him  as  he  talked  sitting  now  opposite  her  with  his 
face  turned  towards  the  sea,  and  his  hair  stirring  about 
his  head,  very  fine  black  hair,  that  even  in  the  sunlight  had 
no  suspicion  of  a  sheen  upon  it. 


THE  STRANGE  ATTRACTION 

"  I  wish  I  knew  who  it  was  who  came  in,"  hie  said,  at 
the  end. 

"  Goodness  me,  are  you  still  thinking  about  that?  You 
had  a  perfect  right  to  be  in  the  office." 

"  That's  the  trouble,"  he  smiled,  "  I  wasn't  in  it." 

"Oh,  pooh!" 

He  looked  quizzically  at  her.  "  I  wish  you'd  teach  me 
to  go  through  the  world  with  my  thumb  to  my  nose  as  you 
do." 

She  laughed  out  merrily.  "  Is  that  the  way  you  see 
me?" 

"  Yes,  it  is.  And  I've  come  to  the  conclusion  it's  the 
only  way  to  take  the  world.  I  hope  you  will  keep  it  up." 

"  I  mean  to,  and  when  they  put  me  in  my  coffin  my  hand 
will  set  that  way."  She  laughed  again  at  the  picture  this 
conjured  up  in  her  mind. 

"  Gorgeous  youth,"  he  said,  a  little  bitterly,  looking 
away  from  her. 

She  sobered  at  once.  It  was  absurd  that  he  should 
speak  of  youth  as  something  in  the  long  lost  years  behind 
him,  for  he  was  looking  young  enough  as  he  sat  there. 
She  thought  of  something  to  divert  him  from  introspec- 
tion. 

"  I  say,  that  leader  of  yours  was  stunning.  I  couldn't 
have  done  it  without  being  sentimental.  You  make  me 
green  with  envy.  And  do  you  know  that  you  have  had 
quite  a  lot  to  do  with  the  making  of  me?  "  He  followed 
her  glance  to  the  Sydney  Bulletin.  "  I've  been  taking  that 
for  ten  years,  ever  since  I  read  an  article  by  you  on  Joseph 
Conrad." 

"  Oh,  really ! "  He  looked  quickly  at  her  and  away 
again. 

"  And  you  have  been  my  literary  adviser  ever  since. 
You  introduced  me  to  Shaw,  Wells,  Ibsen,  George  Moore, 


116  THE  STRANGE  ATTRACTION 

Oscar  Wilde,  Synge,  Yeats,  Lafcadio  Hearn,  Ambrose 
Bierce,  Nietzsche,  Turgenief,  Dostoievsky,  oh,  hosts  of 
men.  And  I've  just  read  your  article  there  on  Masefield. 
You  know,  you've  kindled  fierce  fires  in  my  brain.  You've 
filled  me  with  a  glorious  discontent.  You've  made  New 
Zealand  too  small  for  me.  You've  made  me  want  to  write, 
to  travel,  to  get  to  London  and  Paris  and  see  the  world. 
See  what  you've  done !  Made  a  raving  fever  out  of  a  per- 
fectly good  lotus  eater." 

He  had  turned  to  look  at  her  as  she  talked,  and  thought 
again  she  was  the  most  vivid  thing  he  had  ever  seen. 

"  Good  God !  I  apologize.  How  little  one  realizes  the 
devastating  effects  of  one's  work." 

She  laughed  out  again.  She  was  becoming  a  little  ex- 
cited at  seeing  she  could  interest  him.  He  took  up  the 
Bulletin  and  began  idly  turning  the  pages. 

"  I  haven't  this  number  myself  yet,"  he  said.  "  I  sup- 
pose it  is  in  my  mail."  He  came  to  a  clever  cartoon  and 
showed  it  to  her.  "  The  chap  who  does  those  is  a  friend 
of  mine,  a  cripple,  but  one  of  the  j  oiliest  fellows  I  ever 
knew."  Her  face  clouded.  "  Oh,  don't  pity  him.  He 
hasn't  missed  much.  After  all  it's  what  goes  on  in  your 
mind  that  matters,  not  what  goes  on  in  your  legs." 

She  agreed  with  her  eyes,  and  then  got  him  talking 
about  Sydney  and  the  men  he  knew  there  till  the  sun  was 
down  glaring  in  their  faces  across  the  sea. 

She  took  out  her  watch. 

"  Do  you  have  to  go  ?  "  She  was  only  too  disposed  to 
hear  regret  in  his  tone. 

"  Well,  no — but  I'm  awfully  hungry." 

He  looked  into  her  eyes  and  fell  for  her  intention  as  he 
had  so  often  fallen  for  women's  intentions. 

"  I  say,  will  you  come  along  and  have  tea  with  me  in 
the  tent?  There  is  nobody  about  now." 


THE  STRANGE  ATTRACTION  117 

Belligerency  danced  into  her  eyes  in  an  instant. 

"  What  the  dickens  does  it  matter  whether  there  is 
anybody  about  or  not?  I'm  going  to  settle  this  with  you 
now.  Are  you  afraid  to  be  seen  with  me  or  do  you  think 
I'm  afraid  to  be  seen  with  you,  which  ?  " 

He  was  astonished  at  this  brutal  frankness.  "  Good 
Lord!  do  you  go  at  everything  like  that?"  He  looked 
helplessly  at  her. 

"Well?"  she  demanded. 

He  shrugged  his  shoulders. 

"  Is  it  your  reputation  you're  worried  about?  Do  you 
think  I  don't  know  it,  and  everything  that  has  been  whis- 
pered and  rumoured  and  concocted  about  you  by  people 
who  sin  by  wallowing  in  the  supposed  sins  of  others  ?  Why, 
I'm  far  more  of  an  authority  on  your  reputation  than  you 
are.  And  that's  what  I  care  for  it ! "  She  snapped  her 
fingers.  "  Or  is  it  that  you've  heard  I'm  engaged  to  Bob 
Lorrimer?  Well,  I'm  not,  and  I  never  will  be.  So  much 
for  that.  Now  what  is  it?  " 

Then  her  eyes  fell  before  his,  which  were  burning  with 
a  curious  intensity.  But  he  got  lightly  to  his  feet  and  held 
out  a  hand  to  her. 

"  Come  on  then,"  he  said  softly. 

"  I  believe  you  understand  me,"  she  said  lightly,  as  she 
stood  beside  him. 

"  You  flatter  me,  Miss  Freedom.  I  don't  even  under- 
stand myself  with  whom  I  have  lived  these  thirty  odd 
years."  He  picked  up  her  cloak  and  the  Bulletin  and 
his  stick. 

II 

They  scrambled  down  the  cliffs  and  went  along  the 
beach  delighted  with  the  lovely  evening  growing  stiller  as 
the  wind  went  down,  growing  grayer  as  the  burning  fan 


118  THE  STRANGE  ATTRACTION 

of  gold  and  rose  faded  out  of  the  radius  of  the  sun.  As 
they  wont  they  startled  seagulls  whose  strange  behaviour 
attracted  her  attention. 

"  They're  catching  toheroas,"  said  Dane.  "  They 
watch  for  the  air  bubbles,  and  then  they  bore  into  the 
sand.  They  have  to  be  awfully  smart,  for  even  the  little 
fellows  suck  down  amazingly  fast.  Then  they  fly  up  and 
drop  them,  and  if  the  first  fall  does  not  break  the  shell 
they  take  it  up  again.  Let's  catch  some.  It  will  take 
you  all  your  time  to  get  a  big  one  out." 

They  sat  down  together  and  soon  saw  the  little  bubbles 
of  a  creature  coming  under  the  surface  to  breathe.  She 
dug  fast  with  her  two  hands  as  the  shell-fish  sucked  away 
from  her  spitting  as  it  went.  She  had  quite  a  tussle  to 
get  it  out. 

"  I  wonder  if  it  feels  any  fear,"  he  said. 

"  How  queer  it  must  be  to  have  a  blind  instinct  with- 
out consciousness." 

"  Well,  a  vast  number  of  the  human  race  have  little  else. 
Except  for  physical  pain  they  have  no  vivid  sense  that 
anything  is  going  on  about  them.  The}'  are  no  more 
alive  than  that — why,  it  has  gone  already." 

"  So  it  has."  She  gazed  at  a  little  patch  of  heaving 
sand.  "  Yes,  I  know  what  you  mean.  Beauty  every- 
where, and  no  eyes  to  see  it.  That  struck  me  as  a  child. 
I  remember  once  two  of  my  old  aunts  sat  on  the  verandah 
one  glorious  spring  morning  and  fought  about  whether 
Queen  Victoria  had  ever  really  appreciated  Prince  Albert 
or  not;  they  gorged  on  details  of  the  Royal  Family,  and 
they  got  so  furious  about  it  that  they  did  not  speak  to 
each  other  for  a  week  afterwards.  I  listened  to  them  for 
a  whole  hour.  There  was  the  lovely  garden  and  beds  of 
flowers  just  beside  them.  And  that's  what  they  were  do- 
ing! And  I  wondered  why  I  was  supposed  to  love  and 


THE  STRANGE  ATTRACTION  119 

respect  those  two  awful  old  women  who  never  saw  the 
sun  and  never  knew  when  it  was  spring.  Oh  dear!  I'm 
talking  too  much.  You  must  stop  being  such  a  good 
listener." 

"Must  I?"  His  eyes  held  hers  for  a  minute.  Then 
he  stood  up.  And  they  went  on  to  the  gully. 

She  sat  down  on  his  narrow  cot  sniffing  the  smell  of  the 
canvas  and  the  snug  air  of  the  tent.  She  took  in  the 
details  of  its  spartan  simplicity  in  a  glance  or  two — the 
box  cupboards,  the  plain  kauri  table,  the  rickety  camp 
chairs,  the  few  cooking  utensils,  the  Chinese  matting 
pressed  over  the  uneven  ground,  the  small  typewriter,  piles 
of  books  and  papers,  and  socks  and  ties  and  clothes  over- 
loading a  standard  pole.  Nothing  less  like  the  abode  of  a 
sybarite  could  be  imagined.  And  he  seemed  strangely  out 
of  place  in  it  as  he  moved  about  like  an  aristocratic  cat, 
but  feminine  and  feline  only  in  his  grace.  She  felt  again 
there  was  nothing  in  his  quality  to  suggest  diluted  mascu- 
linity. 

"  Will  you  have  tea  or  wine?  "  he  asked. 

"  Well,  I  would  like  tea." 

"  Good.  Come  on  and  carry  some  of  these  things  out  to 
the  fireplace."  He  handed  her  various  utensils,  and  then 
he  filled  a  billy  from  a  covered  bucket. 

Valerie's  spirits  rose  with  every  minute.  It  is  doubtful 
if  there  is  a  more  friendly  thing  on  earth  than  a  picnic 
fire  built  to  boil  a  billy  for  tea,  and  when  it  is  tea  for  two 
it  gathers  a  mysterious  glamour  as  a  human  moti  accu- 
mulates intensity. 

And  there  never  were  two  people  more  susceptible  to 
any  kind  of  enchantment  than  Valerie  and  Dane.  They 
stood  watching  the  smoke  curl  up  into  vanishing  wisps 
among  the  tree  tops  and  the  shadows  deepen  about  them. 
As  he  puffed  contentedly  at  his  pipe  he  reflected  that  a 


120  THE  STRANGE  ATTRACTION 

fire  must  have  been  the  first  dissipater  of  loneliness  in  the 
days  when  a  timorous  humanity  struggled  with  the  be- 
ginnings of  things,  that  the  desire  to  dance  must  first  have 
been  stirred  in  the  heart  of  man  by  the  leaping  of  lambent 
flames,  and  that  love  as  an  art  must  have  been  begun  by 
the  warmth  of  glowing  coals.  Anyway,  the  sight  of  his 
fire  and  of  Valerie  sitting  on  a  stump  engrossed  in  it  made 
him  feel  happier  than  he  had  done  for  some  time. 

He  left  her  when  the  water  began  to  hum  and  went  in 
to  set  out  the  meal,  leaving  her  to  make  the  tea  and  bring 
it  in.  She  saw  the  tent  lit  up  with  a  lamp  and  his  shadow 
moving  like  a  grotesque  on  the  wall.  She  felt  very  gay 
and  alive. 

He  made  no  apology  for  the  plainness  of  his  food,  for 
as  he  was  going  home  the  next  day  he  had  but  remnants 
left.  But  Valerie  never  knew  what  she  ate  that  evening. 
It  was  sufficient  to  eat  with  a  man  who  had  the  air  of 
presiding  at  a  great  feast. 

"  Ah,  give  me  this  any  day  before  your  satin  couch 
civilization,"  she  said,  looking  round  soon  after  they 
began. 

"  You  think  you  despise  the  satin  couches,  don't  you  ? 
But  what  you  really  despise  is  the  fact  that  they  have 
been  over-emphasized." 

"  But  I  do  despise  them.  I  love  the  primitive  for  its  own 
sake.  The  satin  couch  world  is  cluttered  up  with  a  lot 
of  unessentials,  such  a  lot  of  meaningless  stuff." 

"  There  is  meaning  back  of  it.  But  the  meaning  has 
been  obscured  or  perverted.  You  are  the  product  of  satin 
couches,  even  if  you  are  a  reaction  against  them.  You 
would  not  appreciate  this  tent  if  you  had  not  been  brought 
up  on  satin.  The  primitive  is  fine  for  the  nerves,  but  it  is 
not  stimulating  to  the  modern  mind.  The  caveman  had  a 
strong  stomach  but  a  poor  imagination.  It  takes  su- 


THE  STRANGE  ATTRACTION  121 

premely  sophisticated  people  to  perceive  the  beauty  of  the 
simple  life.  No  plebeian  gumdigger  sees  the  picturesque- 
ness  of  a  nikau  whare.  It's  the  man  who  comes  from 
marble  halls  who  does  that.  I  can  write  inspired  articles 
about  the  bush,  but  the  man  born  in  it  can't.  It's  really 
because  you  had  your  grandparents  that  you  love  this. 
So  don't  despise  that  background." 

He  had  come  alive  while  he  talked  and  his  voice  had 
deepened  a  little. 

"  I  don't  despise  the  best  of  it.  But  I  do  despise  ite 
assumptions,"  she  retorted  with  spirit. 

"  My  dear  Miss  Freedom,  every  class  has  its  assump- 
tions. Every  race,  clique,  caste  and  set  has  had  them  all 
down  the  ages." 

"  Well,  I  dislike  all  assumptions  then." 

"  What  about  your  own?  "  His  eyes  flashed  an  amused 
challenge  at  her. 

"  Mine!  "  She  glared  at  him.  "  Oh  dear,  have  I  any? 
That's  one  of  the  diseases  I  have  been  determined  not  to 
have." 

"  You  have  some  about  freedom,  I  think." 

"  Oh,  of  course  you'd  say  that,"  she  retorted.  "  But 
I  know  I'm  only  free  comparatively." 

He  raised  his  eyebrows  at  her.  "  I  gather  you  did  not 
breathe  easily  in  the  Remuera  set.  May  I  ask  if  you  find 
it  less  difficult  in  Dargaville?  " 

"  I'm  having  nothing  to  do  with  Dargaville.  I'm  just 
living  here  for  the  work." 

"  H'm !  You  really  mean  to  work,  don't  you  ?  "  He 
looked  hard  at  her. 

"Of  course.    Why  not?" 

He  looked  away  from  Her  witKout  answering.  It 
seemed  to  him  that  He  was  getting  fresK  impressions  of 
her  every  hour. 


122  THE  STRANGE  ATTRACTION 

"  People  aren't  real,  if  they  have  not  work,"  she  went 
on  eagerly.  "  That  is  one  of  the  things  I  saw  as  I  was 
growing  up.  I  don't  mean  just  a  hobby.  I  mean  work. 
It's  wonderful  what  it  does  to  people.  Take  all  the  ordi- 
nary people  in  our  office.  And  Lizzie,  that  girl  at  Mac's 
who  waits  on  me.  It  makes  them  originals,  not  imitations. 
And  Mac,  look  at  him.  Something  in  his  own  right." 

"  Yes,  you  have  the  idea,"  he  smiled.  "  Stick  to  it. 
I'm  glad  you  can  admire  a  man  like  Mac.  You  ought  to 
see  him  in  the  bar.  That  is  where  he  is  really  great.  He 
broods  like  a  gigantic  puck  over  that  motley  crowd  with 
a  kind  of  puzzled  expression,  contemptuous  and  amused." 

Dane  talked  on  about  him  and  the  types  of  men  about 
the  river  till  they  had  finished.  Then  he  produced  a  bottle 
of  wine  and  they  began  to  smoke. 

"  It's  wonderful  to  have  someone  who  understands,"  she 
said  impulsively,  after  they  had  raised  their  glasses  to 
each  other.  "  I  wish  you  could  see  how  my  relatives  would 
look  if  I  told  them  I  admired  people  like  Mac." 

He  shrugged  his  shoulders.  "  Well,  you  don't  worry 
about  them  now,  do  you  ?  " 

"  Not  in  the  least.     They're  all  dead." 

He  raised  his  eyebrows  enquiringly. 

She  sat  up  talking  eagerly,  so  much  so  that  he  won- 
dered for  a  moment  if  the  wine  could  have  affected  her  so 
soon. 

"  You  see,  I  killed  them  all  years  ago,  all  but  dad.  It 
was  a  grand  scheme.  I  don't  remember  now  how  the  idea 
came  to  me.  But  I  made  ghosts  of  them.  I  said  to  my- 
self, *  Let  them  be  like  the  furniture.  There's  a  chair.  It 
is  an  object.  It  can't  hurt  me.  It  is  a  dead  thing.'  And 
I  began  to  imagine  them  dead  one  by  one.  And  I  learned 
what  you  could  do  with  your  imagination.  Aunt  Maud 
jras  my  first  ghost,  because  she  was  the  worst.  And  then 


THE  STRANGE  ATTRACTION  123 

it  did  not  hurt  me  to  see  her  any  more,  or  to  hear  her 
nasty  old  tongue  any  more  because  she  was  only  a  pathetic 
spirit.  And  as  it  worked  so  well  with  her  I  killed  them 
all  in  my  mind.  I  appointed  a  day  for  them  to  die.  I 
even  wept  over  it  for  some  of  them,  mother  and  Rose,  be- 
cause you  see,  I  had  cared,  I  had  expected  them  to  be 
things,  and  it  was  hard  to  come  to  see  they  would  never 
be  any  different.  But  I  had  no  peace  with  them  alive,  and 
so  they  all  had  to  go.  And  then  it  was  funny  to  see  them 
come  into  a  room.  I  used  to  say  to  myself  '  How  queer. 
There  you  are  moving  about  as  if  you  were  a  live  thing. 
But  you  are  just  like  the  chair  to  me,  and  quite  dead, 
because  I  don't  expect  anything  of  you  any  more.'  And 
then,  of  course,  I  could  be  nice  to  them.  For  who  would 
snub  a  ghost?  And  they  all  began  to  tell  me  how  im- 
proved I  was." 

She  stopped,  for  Dane  had  taken  his  pipe  out  of  his 
mouth  and  turned  his  face  to  her,  and  there  came  out  of 
his  eyes  a  look  that  abashed  her.  "  You're  pretty  ruth- 
less, aren't  you  ?  "  he  said  quietly. 

Then  to  his  surprise  he  saw  her  bite  her  lips,  and  a 
mist  come  over  her  eyes.  "  Oh,  no,  I'm  not.  All  that 
hurt,  really  it  did."  And  he  saw  the  expression  on  her 
face  that  he  had  seen  as  she  lay  unconscious  in  the  yard. 

"  I  didn't  mean  to  imply  that  you  can't  feel,"  he  said 
quickly,  seeing  that  he  had  hurt  her. 

"  Why,  I  feel  far  too  much !  "  she  cried.  "  That  is  why 
I  could  not  stand  it.  That  is  why  I  had  to  fight.  That 
is  why  I  had  to  kill  them." 

He  put  out  a  hand  and  patted  her  arm  lightly.  "  I 
know.  I  understand." 

She  subsided  at  once,  her  face  flushing  up.  "  I'm  silly 
to  be  so  serious,"  she  said,  lighting  another  cigarette.  A 
moment  of  awkwardness  followed.  Then  Dane  stood  up. 


124     THE  STRANGE  ATTRACTION 

"  Well,  you're  only  another  poor  mortal  crying  for  the 
moon,"  he  said  lightly. 

"  And  don't  you  ever  cry  for  it?  " 

"  Good  Lord,  my  dear,  sometimes  it  seems  to  me  that  I 
never  do  anything  else.  Come  on,  let's  go  out  to  the  fire, 
and  smoke  there."  As  he  spoke  he  took  a  sweater  and  a 
heavy  coat  off  a  hook,  and  collected  tobacco,  cigarettes 
and  matches. 


Ill 

When  they  had  piled  up  sticks  and  logs  and  started  S 
fine  blaze,  they  sat  down  in  the  sand  and  rushes  a  little 
way  above  it.  He  had  wrapped  his  coat  about  her  and 
had  put  on  his  own  red  sweater.  The  light  of  the  flames 
played  about  their  faces  and  lit  up  their  eyes.  They  sat 
still  for  a  while  and  then  she  turned  to  him. 

"  You  were  born  in  Sydney,  weren't  you?  " 

"  Yes." 

**  What  kind  of  a  family  did  you  have?  " 

"  I  didn't  have  any  except  a  father.  That  is,  my 
mother  died  when  I  was  born,  and  I  was  the  first." 

"  No  relatives !    How  joyful !  " 

He  turned  with  the  flash  in  his  eyes  that  she  was  trying 
Jo  encourage. 

"  That's  the  ironic  part  of  it.  Having  none  I  always 
Ranted  some." 

"  Tell  me  about  it.    What  did  you  do  as  a  boy?  " 

"  Well,  I  think  I  had  a  funny  childhood,  very  irregular, 
Hut  it  had  its  interesting  side."  He  picked  up  a  piece  of 
stick  and  threw  it  down  into  the  fire,  and  talked  on  quietly 
and  rather  monotonously,  quite  without  the  reminiscencing 
'fervour  that  Valerie  had  shown.  "  As  a  man  my  father 
quite  a  character,  but  he  was  somewhat  negligent  as 


THE  STRANGE  ATTRACTION  125 

a  parent,  indeed  I  may  say  he  was  a  lamentable  failure 
as  a  parent,  and  you  can  be  under-fathered  just  as  mucH 
as  you  can  be  over-fathered.  But  he  was  a  great  charac- 
ter. He  was  very  handsome,  much  bigger  than  I  am,  and 
I  get  my  colouring  from  him.  He  was  on  the  stage  as  a 
young  man,  with  Brough  and  Titherage,  and  then  he  met 
with  an  accident  that  badly  lamed  him.  So  they  made 
him  advance  agent  for  the  Brough  Company,  and  he  was 
with  them  till  he  died.  He  began  taking  me  round  with 
him  when  I  was  about  six  years  old,  and  for  years  I 
travelled  with  him  all  over  Australia  and  in  Africa  and 
India.  He  was  very  well  known,  fortunately  for  me,  for 
as  a  kid  I  was  a  lot  alone.  I  was  really  awfully  lonely." 
He  paused,  putting  down  his  pipe  in  the  sand  beside  him. 
**  I  say,  do  you  really  want  to  hear  this  ?  " 

"  Oh,  please,  I  do."  She  opened  her  eyes  very  wide  at 
him. 

"  Well,  my  parent  was  not  exactly  fitted  for  the  job. 
He  used  to  forget  about  me.  He'd  leave  me  in  a  hotel 
in  charge  of  a  porter  or  anybody  who  happened  to  be 
around,  and  he  would  go  off  for  days  and  nobody  would 
care  whether  I  ate  or  ever  went  to  bed,  and  the  porter 
might  be  sacked,  and  then  there'd  be  nobody  responsible 
for  me.  I  used  to  hang  round  the  tiars  and  billiard  sa- 
loons and  drop  asleep  watching  the  play  and  listening  to 
the  tales.  Eventually  some  man  would  find  out  who  I 
was  and  go  to  the  office  about  me,  and  somebody  would 
come  and  wake  me  and  tell  me  to  go  to  bed.  Sometimes 
I  went  to  bed  alone,  but  not  often,  I  didn't  like  it.  Oc- 
casionally there'd  be  a  boy  in  the  place  I  would  take  to, 
and  like  you,  when  I  began  to  read  it  was  much  better. 
I  didn't  care  much  for  roughing  it  then.  I  wasn't  very, 
strong  physically,  and  I  shrank  from  ordinary  boy  bru- 
tality. Well,  I  was  always  being  left  somewhere,  ancj 


:i26  THE  STRANGE  ATTRACTION 

then  dad  would  miss  something  and  remember  me.  Then 
there  would  come  a  telegram  saying,  *  Where's  that  kid  of 
mine?  Send  him  on  by  the  eleven-thirty  to-night  with  my 
clothes.'  And  often  I  would  be  roused  out  of  bed  and 
taken  to  a  train  and  sent  off  to  some  town  where,  as  likely 
as  not,  my  father  would  forget  to  meet  me  in  the  morn- 
ing. I  was  frequently  lost.  Once  it  was  quite  serious. 
That  was  in  Africa.  An  Englishman  found  me  asleep  in 
a  station  in  the  early  morning.  He  watched  me  a  while 
and  then  woke  me,  and  I  told  him  my  father  was  supposed 
to  be  there  sometime.  But  I  must  have  looked  frightened 
or  something,  for  he  took  charge  of  me,  took  me  to  break- 
fast and  waited  round  with  me  all  the  morning.  Then  as 
!dad  never  turned  up,  he  left  word  at  the  station  and  took 
me  off  to  his  hotel.  It  took  him  three  weeks  to  trace  my 
casual  parent  who  had  been  on  a  spree  and  in  an  accident. 
When  he  finally  came  there  was  a  scene.  The  English- 
man wanted  to  adopt  me.  He  had  had  a  boy  who  died. 
He  was  a  huge  chap,  jolly  and  friendly.  But  my  strange 
father  had  some  queer  affection  of  his  own  for  me.  He 
was  always  glad  to  find  me  again.  He  had  an  inex- 
tinguishable faith  in  the  world's  goodness  to  me.  He  al- 
ways knew  I  would  turn  up,  and  I  always  did  turn  up. 
It  was  a  tribute  to  his  extraordinary  personality  and  to 
the  fact  that  he  always  paid  his  debts,  that  I  was  invari- 
ably given  money  and  shipped  along  with  his  tooth-brush 
and  the  things  he  continually  left  behind.  The  only  thing 
I  ever  quarrelled  with  him  about  was  the  stage.  He 
wanted  me  to  go  on  it,  and  trained  me  for  it.  But  I  could 
not  stand  it.  I  could  not  stand  the  women.  And  I  wanted 
to  write  poetry.  We  had  some  trying  arguments  about 
it.  But  I  was  only  eighteen  when  he  died." 

Dane  took  up  his  pipe  again  and  refilled  it. 

"  What  did  you  do  then?  " 


THE  STRANGE  ATTRACTION  127 

"  Fortunately  he  left  me  enough  money  to  go  to  Lon- 
don, where  I'd  always  wanted  to  go.  And  there  I  looked 
Up  a  sister  of  his,  much  older,  unmarried.  A  pathetic, 
starved  thing,  as  I  see  her  now.  She  hugged  his  memory, 
and  I  let  her  hug  it.  She  was  living  in  a  world  of  her 
own  where  all  men  were  Saint  Anthonys  and  Sir  Galahads. 
And  she  made  a  Sir  Galahad  of  me — well,  I  was  one  then. 
Poor  soul,  she  got  very  dotty  about  me,  but  before  I'd 
been  there  more  than  six  months  she  died,  and  then  I  found 
she  had  left  me  her  money." 

"  And  what  next?  " 

He  smiled  at  this  inquisition.  "  Let's  see,  I  stayed  on 
in  London  for  a  year,  then  I  went  to  Paris  and  then  to 
Berlin,  and  I  rambled  about  Europe,  and  on  into  Persia 
and  back  to  India  and  the  East.  It  was  the  East  that 
hypnotized  me.  Sometimes  now  I  wish  I  had  stayed  there. 
But  the  climate  worried  me,  and  the  life  the  Anglo-Saxon 
leads  is  pretty  rotten,  and  I  could  not  have  kept  out  of  it. 
I  hankered  after  Sydney  again  too,  and  so  I  went  back 
when  I  was  twenty-four  and  began  to  write.  I've  run 
about  the  Islands  and  New  Guinea  and  this  country  of 
yours  since  then,  and,  well,  now  I'm  here." 

He  took  a  long  puff  and  stared  down  into  the  fire. 

*'  Yes  here,  after  all  that,"  she  said  slowly. 

"  Well,  why  not?  " 

"  There  must  be  so  much  you  miss." 

"  Yes,  and  very  glad  I  am  to  miss  it." 

"  Do  you  intend  to  stay  here?  " 

"  I  don't  know.  But  I  can  consider  it  calmly.  After 
all  a  book  is  a  book,  and  a  boat  a  boat,  and  a  fire  a  fire 
all  the  world  over.  And  then  this  business  of  being  in  the 
swim  in  London  or  Paris  or  New  York  is  only  another  of 
the  hypnotisms  men  succumb  to  to  please  themselves.  It 
isn't  as  important  to  Hve  in  London  as  they  think  it  is. 


128  THE  STRANGE  ATTRACTION 

You  can  get  behind  humanity  anywhere  in  the  world. 
Every  man  in  earnest  wherever  you  go  has  the  illusion 
that  his  particular  ism  or  place  is  running  the  world. 
Each  believes  in  the  final  dominancy  of  his  set  of  ideas. 
Nothing  gives  you  such  a  sickening  sense  of  monotony  as 
going  about  this  world  listening  to  men  talk  of  their  ideas. 
It  makes  you  long  for  the  good  old  days  when  nobody 
had  any  ideas  beyond  getting  a  meal  and  chasing  a  woman. 
In  the  course  of  a  week's  travelling  you  will  meet  twenty 
varieties  of  truths,  each  of  which  is  the  only  thing  that 
will  save  the  world  morally  and  industrially.  And  the 
fanatics  talking  these  various  truths  are  being  pandered 
to  and  used  everywhere  by  the  same  political  and  capital- 
ist forces  for  the  same  old  ends." 

"  But  good  heavens,"  she  protested,  "  isn't  there  some- 
thing more  in  the  world  than  people  talking  about  their 
ideas?  Don't  tell  me  you  did  not  get  a  great  deal  more 
than  that  from  travelling.  You  saw  beautiful  places, 
beautiful  things." 

"  Yes,  I  know,  and  places  are  wonderful." 

"  Why,  of  course.  Oh  dear,  you've  had  everything, 
[just  everything  I  want."  She  leaned  forward  staring  hard 
into  the  fire. 

"  Well,  you  are  going  to  get  it,  aren't  you  ?  You  cer- 
tainly will  if  you  want  it." 

"  Yes,  I  am,"  but  she  did  not  say  it  with  her  usual 
positiveness,  and  she  felt  a  little  chill  that  he  should  him- 
self so  cheerfully  contemplate  the  idea  of  her  going  away. 

Dane  got  up  and  went  down  to  the  fire  and  poked  the 
straggling  ends  into  the  centre  and  put  on  another  log. 
He  stood  there  a  minute  beside  it,  a  rather  drooping 
figure  vividly  projected  against  a  panel  of  darkness  be- 
tween the  trunks  of  trees.  She  felt  a  swift  clutch  upon 
Jier  heart  as  she  looked  at  him.  And  she  saw  him  against 


THE  STRANGE  ATTRACTION  129 

the  background  of  that  wandering  youth  that  he  had  so 
simply  pictured.  And  she  thought  it  was  no  wonder  that 
he  drank  to  excess  occasionally.  And  then  she  wondered 
again  if  he  made  a  habit  of  taking  morphia.  It  startled 
her  a  little  to  see  how  much  she  cared  about  it. 

Dane  came  back  to  her  and  sat  down  carefully  beyond 
the  reach  of  hands,  as  he  had  done  before,  and  began  to 
talk  easily  of  his  travels  in  the  East.  She  listened  fasci- 
nated to  his  impersonal  account  of  men  he  had  met,  situa- 
tions he  had  been  in,  and  forces  working  in  China  and 
Japan.  She  had  heard  enough  to  be  able  to  ask  intelli- 
gent questions,  and  the  time  slipped  by.  It  was  he  who 
thought  of  it  first. 

"  What  time  do  you  have  to  be  in  ?  "  he  asked.  "  I 
mustn't  keep  you  here  too  late." 

She  was  not  accustomed  to  men  who  considered  jfche 
hours  for  her. 

"  Twelve  o'clock.     What  is  it  now  ?  " 

"  Nearly  half -past  ten." 

'*  Oh,  I'd  better  go.     It's  rather  heavy  walking." 

She  had  a  funny  sense  of  frustration  as  he  went  into 
the  tent  to  get  a  lantern.  She  wondered  why.  When  he 
came  out  again  he  thought  of  the  fire,  and  covered  it  up 
carefully,  for  the  undergrowth  about  was  still  dry  enough 
to  catch.  Then  they  set  off  into  the  sooty  blackness  of 
the  ravine.  There  was  something  extraordinarily  inti- 
mate about  the  compressed  isolation  of  that  little  gully. 
It  shut  them  off  from  the  world  as  completely  as  if  they 
were  on  a  remote  island.  Ferns  and  creepers  gave  it  a 
jungle  fascination.  The  trees  met  so  thickly  overhead 
that  not  a  starbeam  twinkled  through.  The  rumble  of 
the  surf  was  smothered  to  a  distant  monotone  in  the  heavy 
stillness. 

Valerie  felt  her  pulses  beating  faster  and  faster,  her: 


130  THE  STRANGE  ATTRACTION 

talk  becoming  more  and  more  disjointed.  Sensing  tHe 
change  in  her  Dane  walked  deliberately  ahead  of  her,  and 
quickly,  fighting  the  temptation  to  stop  and  throw  his 
arms  about  her.  They  recovered  their  equilibrium  but 
not  their  spontaneity  on  the  flat  above.  She  had  not  ex- 
pected him  to  go  on  with  her,  but  he  put  out  the  lantern, 
leaving  it  by  a  bush,  and  started  off  with  her.  He  lit  his 
pipe  and  they  went  on  some  distance  in  silence.  Then 
under  the  stars  she  lost  her  queer  feeling  of  disruption 
and  regained  her  poise.  As  far  as  she  could  feel  he  was 
oblivious  of  her  as  he  swung  along  beside  her. 

After  a  while  he  asked  her  abruptly  how  she  liked 
Roger  Benton,  and  talking  of  him  and  his  chances  in  the 
election  they  came  to  the  borders  of  Dargaville. 

"  It  was  awfully  good  of  you  to  give  me  your  company," 
he  said  lightly,  with  no  air  of  lingering,  as  he  held  out  his 
hand. 

"  Yes,  it's  been  a  masterpiece  of  self-sacrifice." 

She  saw  the  smile  that  lit  his  eyes,  and  then  he  gave  her 
a  little  salute  and  turned  away.  She  walked  on  wondering 
if  he  had  wanted  to  kiss  her  in  the  ravine,  if  the  thought 
of  kissing  her  had  yet  entered  his  mind.  And  then  she 
told  herself  she  must  not  think  these  things.  She  posi- 
tively must  not  get  fond  of  him.  Feeling  the  way  she 
did  about  a  career  and  about  living  she  had  no  business 
to  encourage  him.  Then  she  thought  she  was  absurd.  He 
had  given  no  sign  that  he  had  the  remotest  intention 
of  looking  upon  her  as  anything  but  a  passing  acquain- 
tance. 

She  passed  Bolton  and  Allison  gossiping  by  the  former's 
gate  and  knew  they  looked  curiously  after  her.  She  was 
glad  to  find  the  side  door  of  the  hotel  still  open,  but  as 
she  slipped  in  quietly  Mac  came  from  the  corridor  with  a 
candle  to  see  if  it  were  shut. 


THE  STRANGE  ATTRACTION  131 

Because  she  had  no  conviction  of  sin  Valerie  never  had 
the  sense  of  being  caught.  She  smiled  up  at  Mac. 

"  That  was  a  narrow  shave.  What  would  I  do  if  it 
were  locked?  " 

The  big  Irishman's  hard  eyes  softened  into  the  begin- 
nings of  a  grin.  She  felt  her  soul  was  naked  under  that 
shrewd  omniscient  stare.  But  somehow  it  did  not  offend 
her. 

"  Knock  on  the  window.  Mike  will  let  you  in."  He 
nodded  in  the  direction  of  the  room  where  Michael  slept. 
He  wondered  in  a  vaguely  interested  way  as  she  went  on 
if  she  had  been  out  with  Dane  Barrington. 

She  did  not  get  to  sleep  for  some  time.  Through  her 
open  window  she  caught  at  intervals  on  some  drift  of  the 
night  breeze  the  sound  of  the  surf,  and  she  pictured  the 
man  down  there  alone  in  his  tent,  and  fell  asleep  to  dream 
of  a  boy  lost  in  a  world  of  hotels  and  stations,  a  boy  who 
kept  running  round  corners  after  a  man  carrying  a  gi- 
gantic tooth-brush. 


CHAPTER  IX 


BOB  was  generously  astonished  with  what  ha<f  been 
accomplished  in  his  absence.  When  Valerie  walked 
in  at  nine  he  sprang  out  of  his  chair  with  en- 
thusiasm. 

"  Val,  you  are  a  brick.  That  job  for  Townshend  is  a 
stroke.  Benton  will  be  awfully  pleased.  Looks  as  if  he 
might  be  on  our  side.  And  that  leader  of  yours  on  the 
fire  is  one  of  the  best  things  I  ever  saw.  Mrs.  Benton 
read  it  to  us  last  night." 

"  It  was  a  good  leader,  wasn't  it  ?  But  I  didn't  write 
it."  She  turned  to  the  hook  where  she  hung  her  hat  and 
coat. 

"You  didn't!  Why,  Val,  it  wasn't  quoted,"  he  said, 
and  his  tone  implied  that  she  had  made  a  blunder. 

"  It  didn't  have  to  be,  Bob.  Mr.  Barrington  wrote  it 
for  me."  She  was  sorry  to  see  that  heavy  frown  form 
over  his  eyes. 

"  Barrington  wrote  it !  How  the  devil  did  he  come  to 
write  it?  Look  here,  Val,  I  don't  want  him  to  have  any- 
thing to  do  with  this  paper,  if  you  don't  mind."  He 
dropped  down  into  his  chair. 

"  Well,  you  can't  stop  him  bringing  in  news,  Bob.  He's 
a  friend  of  Benton's.  He  came  in  on  Thursday  night 
with  that  stuff  about  Lord  Reaver's  son  and  the  fortune 
just  as  I  was  trying  to  write  the  leader,  and  I  was  most 
beastly  ill  with  a  headache,  and  he  stayed  and  did  it  for 
me.  Rather  decent,  I  thought." 

Bob  was  a  bit  ashamed  of  his  reaction.  Valerie  sat 

132 


THE  STRANGE  ATTRACTION  133 

(down  easily  at  her  desk.  "  Did  you  have  a  good  week?.  »* 
she  went  on  amiably. 

"  Oh,  I  suppose  so." 

But  it  was  the  middle  of  the  clay  before  he  had  recov- 
ered sufficient  detachment  to  talk  to  her  about  it.  He 
never  made  any  reference  later  to  the  copies  he  saw  of 
Dane's  leader  in  other  papers.  Nor  did  Valerie  mention 
them.  She  was  above  thinking  that  pin  pricks  serve  any 
useful  purpose  in  human  relations. 

A  few  evenings  later  she  had  to  work  in  the  office  till 
nearly  seven.  Bob  had  left  an  hour  before.  When  she 
entered  the  dining-room  she  saw  there  was  no  one  at  her 
table  and  only  one  man,  a  stranger,  eating  at  that  end  of 
the  room.  She  turned  her  head  and  saw  that  Dane  was 
with  Mac  at  the  other  end.  To  her  surprise  the  big 
Irishman  beckoned  to  her.  As  she  approached  his  table 
she  thought  Dane's  unmoved  face  a  bit  of  unnecessary 
tact.  But  as  she  smiled  at  him  she  was  surprised  to  catch 
no  answering  glimmer  of  responsiveness  in  his  miserable 
eyes.  The  look  in  them  chilled  her  before  she  could  think. 

"  Come  and  have  some  pheasant,"  growled  Mac  hos- 
pitably. "  I  think  you  know  Barrington."  But  there  was 
nothing  significant  in  his  tone  to  suggest  that  he  sus- 
pected there  was  something  between  them. 

"  I  do.  Yes,  I'd  love  to,"  she  said  in  one  breath,  trying 
to  smile  at  Mac  and  look  enquiringly  at  Dane  at  the  same 
time.  As  she  sat  down  opposite  them  her  spirits  rose  a 
little  at  the  sight  of  the  steaming  pheasants  and  the  bot- 
tles of  wine.  As  Michael  brought  extra  service  he  smiled 
'at  her  as  if  he  were  in  a  conspiracy  with  her. 

She  watched  Mac  carving  deftly  with  his  great  red 
hands.  She  tried  to  appear  as  oblivious  as  he  was  of  the 
frozen  manner  of  the  man  beside  him,  but  she  wondered 
what  on  earth  had  happened  to  the  gay  spirit  who  had 


134  THE  STRANGE  ATTRACTION 

made  a  feast  of  his  crumbs  in  the  tent,  but  could  not  now 
smile  at  the  prospect  of  pheasant  and  champagne.  He 
Idid  not  even  look  at  her,  but  sat  smoking  a  cigarette  and 
staring  at  a  corner  of  the  table,  his  head  a  little  bent,  his 
shoulders  hunched  in  an  attitude  of  profound  dejec- 
tion. 

Mac  handed  her  a  luscious  plate  of  the  best  portions 
of  a  bird  with  potatoes  and  little  onions,  and  Michael 
poured  her  out  a  glass  of  wine. 

"  Go  ahead,  eat,"  commanded  Mac. 

Then  Dane  looked  at  her,  a  faint  glimmer  of  interest 
appearing  at  the  back  of  his  desperate  eyes.  He  raised 
his  glass  to  her  and  drank  deeply. 

She  began  to  eat,  for  she  was  hungry,  and  she  meant 
to  pay  Mac  the  compliment  of  enjoying  his  meal.  "  This 
is  grand.  I  love  pheasant  high  like  this.  Is  there  much 
game  up  this  way?  " 

"  Yes,  about  Kaihu.    Can  you  shoot  ?  " 

"  At  a  target,  yes.  But  I  don't  like  killing  anything 
except  rats." 

Mac  handed  a  plate  to  Dane  and  filled  his  own  and 
began  to  gobble  audibly.  Then  he  looked  at  the  other 
man  who  made  no  attempt  to  eat. 

"Cheer  up,  D.  B.,"  he  said  gruffly.  "Heard  of  the 
accident  ?  "  He  turned  to  Valerie. 

"  No.  What  is  it  ?  "  Her  eyes  widened,  and  she  looked 
from  him  to  Dane. 

"  Duffield.  Englishman.  They  brought  him  down  from 
Townshend's  mill  an  hour  ago.  Back  broken."  Mac  said 
it  as  laconically  as  he  would  have  said  "  He's  got  a  cold." 

Valerie  put  down  her  knife  and  fork  while  something 
caught  her  throat.  "  How  rotten !  "  she  exploded. 

"  Yes."  Mac  went  on  with  his  mouth  full  of  food. 
"  Bloody  hard  luck.  Good  sport.  He's  done." 


THE  STRANGE  ATTRACTION  135 

She  looked  into  her  glass  and  without  thinking  drank 
it  empty. 

"  That's  it,"  said  Dane  bitterly,  speaking  for  the  first 
time.  "  That's  the  only  answer."  And  he  finished  his 
own  glass  and  refilled  it. 

"  You  knew  him?  "  She  turned  her  sorry  eyes  upon 
him. 

ft  Yes,  knew  him  well,"  he  said  irritably,  and  looked 
away  from  her. 

"  He's  gone  to  the  hospital,  I  suppose,"  she  said  to 
Mac. 

"  Yes.     Lorrimer  went  too,  with  Doc  Steele." 

They  all  ate  in  silence  for  some  minutes.  Valerie  felt 
depressed  herself  now.  "  I  can  never  get  used  to  acci- 
dents," she  said  gloomily.  "  Such  a  waste  of  human 
material." 

"  Plenty  more  to  take  its  place,  don't  worry."  Mac 
continued  to  eat  with  superb  indifference. 

Dane  beckoned  to  Michael  and  ordered  more  wine. 
When  it  came  he  reached  for  her  glass. 

"  Oh,  please,  not  any  more  for  me,"  she  said  quickly. 

He  shot  a  look  at  her.  The  champagne  was  working 
in  him.  "  Be  a  sport.  Of  course  you  will  have  some 
more."  He  filled  her  glass. 

Mac  raised  his,  drinking  for  the  first  time.  "  Here's 
long  life  to  you  both,"  he  said.  It  sounded  as  if  he  were 
proposing  a  matrimonial  toast.  Valerie  compressed  her 
lips,  and  a  flicker  of  amusement  crossed  Dane's  eyes. 

"  Not  long  life,  Mac,  but  full  life,  eh,  Miss  Freedom?  " 
And  for  the  first  time  he  looked  at  Valerie  as  if  he  really 
saw  her. 

She  nodded,  smiling  at  him  as  if  she  would  make  him 
forget. 

Then  Dane  began  to  eat  a  little  and  to  talk,  and  the 


136  THE  STRANGE  ATTRACTION 

'despair  went  from  his  face.  He  became  alive,  and  she 
saw  why  her  father  had  called  him  one  of  the  finest  table 
talkers  he  had  ever  met.  As  the  wine  got  hold  of  him  he 
grew  more  brilliant.  He  got  on  to  reminiscences  of  the 
gold  field  rushes  in  Australia,  to  the  tragedies  and  come- 
dies of  fever-stricken  men  and  women.  She  listened  aston- 
ished and  fascinated,  but  chilled  to  think  that  he  had  to 
be  a  little  drunk  to  be  like  that.  But  he  had  forgotten 
Duffield.  At  least  she  was  glad  of  that. 

Mac  grew  a  little  more  lively  too.  He  broke  in  witK 
grunts  and  comments,  and  he  forgot  Valerie  occasionally 
and  let  slip  words  with  unpleasant  connotations.  Then 
she  was  surprised  to  see  that  Dane  had  not  lost  his  aware- 
ness of  her,  for  he  silenced  Mac  with  a  commanding  Sh! 
Interested  though  she  was,  she  thought  she  had  better 
leave  them  to  it.  She  stood  up  and  thanked  Mac  with  S 
little  bow.  He  grinned  broadly  at  her. 

Dane  looked  up  at  her  with  a  subconscious  appeal  in 
his  eyes,  now  softened  and  a  little  slumbrous.  "  Oh,  don't 
go,  don't  go,"  he  pleaded. 

She  did  not  want  to.  She  had  drunk  just  enough  to 
make  her  reckless.  But  something  told  her  she  could  not 
stay  there  and  drink  with  them. 

"  I  must  go.  I  have  to  work,"  she  said,  and  went  oft 
wondering  if  she  were  walking  steadily.  Unaccustomed  to 
champagne  she  felt  so  fuddled  when  she  got  to  her  room 
that  she  lay  down  on  her  bed  and  fell  asleep  and  did  not 
wake  till  after  midnight. 


II 

The  next  evening  as  she  walked  with  Bob  to  the  office 
after  dinner  he  told  her  that  Dane  Barrington  Had  Keen 
drunk  the  night  before  and  was  still  in  bed  in  the  Hotel. 


THE  STRANGE  ATTRACTION  137 

"  I  thought  he  probably  was,"  she  said  sweetly.  "  I 
had  Idinner  with  him  and  Mac  last  night,  and  the  fourth 
bottle  was  coming  in  as  I  left,  or  perhaps  it  was  the  fifth. 
I  got  a  bit  shickered  myself  and  had  to  go  to  bed." 

Bob  stopped  suddenly  in  the  middle  of  the  path,  and 
then  strode  on  belligerently. 

"  Out  with  it,"  she  said  calmly. 

*'  I  have  nothing  to  say."  But  it  was  the  tone  of  a  man 
Svho  could  have  talked  all  night  on  the  subject. 

"  Really !  You  began  by  telling  me  something  you  sus- 
pected I  would  not  like  to  know.  Why  be  squeamish  about 
the  rest  of  it?  " 

"  Val,  if  you  are  going  to  be  associated  with  that  man 
I'm  going  to  leave  Dargaville." 

"  That's  not  necessary,  Bob.     Sack  me  instead." 

"  Don't  talk  rot." 

"  Look  here,  Bob,  calm  down.  The  trouble  is  that  you 
rdo  not  know  me  at  all.  Years  ago  you  set  up  some  vision 
and  called  it  Valerie  Carr.  It  never  was  Valerie  Carr,  and 
it  never  will  be,  and  why  on  earth  you  want  to  keep  on 
tailing  it  Valerie  Carr  passes  my  comprehension.  I've 
done  my  best  as  kindly  as  I  could  to  show  you  I  am  not 
that  vision.  I  did  think  I  loved  you  and  could  marry 
you.  I  don't  know  what  happened  to  make  me  see  I 
couldn't.  But  I  know  something  did.  I'm  willing  to  take 
the  whole  blame  for  that  three  months.  I  have  never 
blamed  you.  But  I  couldn't  go  on,  Bob.  And  one  can 
never  go  back  and  begin  again  in  the  same  way.  You 
want  something  entirely  different  from  me.  You  want  a 
woman  who  will  go  your  own  road." 

They  had  reached  the  office.  He  unlocked  the  door  and 
tKey  went  in.  Valerie  did  not  take  off  her  things.  She 
sat  on  the  edge  of  her  desk  looking  at  Bob,  who  had  sat 
'down  and  thrown  his  hat  on  to  a  pile  of  papers. 


138  THE  STRANGE  ATTRACTION 

She  struggled  with  something  in  her  mind  for  a  few 
minutes,  then  she  went  on  quietly. 

"  Bob,  we  cannot  work  here  with  friction  between  us. 
You  can  have  my  resignation  here  and  now,  or  you  can 
play  the  game  and  shut  up  about  what  I  do." 

He  turned  fiercely  on  her.  "  You  know  as  well  as  I  do 
we  can't  bust  up  the  job  now.  We've  got  to  go  on  with 
it." 

"  It  isn't  any  use  telling  me  I  have  to  go  on  with  a 
thing.  I  tell  you  I  will  stay  on  one  condition,  and  one 
only.  And  it  was  the  one  on  which  I  came  up.  Are  you 
going  to  keep  it  or  not?  " 

"  Oh,  of  course,  I  have  to  keep  it.  I  always  have  to  do 
everything." 

"  No,  you  don't.  You  simply  have  to  choose  between 
having  me  go  or  stay.  And  if  I  stay  I'll  never  hurt  your 
feelings  by  mentioning  things  I  know  you  won't  like  to 
Jiear.  If  you  think  back  over  this  conversation  you  will 
see  you  began  that  business.  And  you  know  quite  well 
that  when  people  hit  me  I  can  hit  them  back,  and  I'm 
always  going  to  hit  them  back.  I'm  no  meek  and  mild 
angel.  But  I  do  try  not  to  give  the  first  blow.  The 
world  is  hard  enough  for  all  of  us  without  that  first 
blow." 

As  usual,  Bob  felt  ashamed  of  himself.  And  he  hated 
her  awful  fairness,  her  incorruptible  strength,  her  fatal 
gift  of  hitting  back  in  the  sorest  spot.  He  would  have 
felt  better  if  only  he  had  known  some  weakness  of  hers  he 
could  make  a  dent  in. 

"  Of  course  you  must  stay,  and  you  can  go  to  hell  for 
all  I  care,"  he  retorted  savagely. 

"  Now  that's  the  proper  spirit.  If  only  we  would  all 
let  each  other  go  pleasantly  to  hell  the  world  would  be 
>quite  a  nice  place  to  live  in." 


THE  STRANGE  ATTRACTION  139 

"  All  right.  See  that  you  let  Barrington  go  pleasantly 
to  hell  if  you  get  shook  on  him." 

"  Hell !  Bob !  Are  you  in  a  conspiracy  to  throw  that 
man  at  me  or  what?  "  He  had  thrust  better  than  he 
knew. 

He  was  astonished  to  see  her  turn  and  go  out  of  the 
office.  He  sat  staring  blankly  at  the  wall  in  front  of  him 
for  some  minutes.  Did  she  really  care  for  that  man? 
Up  till  now  it  had  only  been  the  fear  that  she  might 
come  to  do  so  that  had  been  in  his  mind.  And  if  she 
did  what  was  he  to  do?  He  dropped  his  head  in 
his  hands  and  thought  back.  And  he  knew  he  had  no 
choice. 

Valerie  walked  almost  to  the  centre  of  the  town  in  a 
rage  against  Bob.  She  told  herself  he  had  no  business 
to  hang  on  to  a  former  relation  in  this  manner.  That 
was  the  kind  of  weakness  that  she  loathed.  Why  could  he 
not  accept  the  inevitable?  Just  because  she  had  never  let 
him  see  how  painful,  how  frought  with  struggle  and  in- 
decision the  thing  had  been  for  her  he  had  supposed  she 
had  not  felt  about  it.  And  then  that  remark  about  Dane. 
She  told  herself  she  was  not  in  love  with  Dane.  He  was 
not  in  love  with  her,  and  she  detested  this  anticipatory 
settlement  of  her  affairs. 

She  turned  up  Queen  Street  and  walked  to  the  fringe 
of  the  town  and  a  little  way  on  along  the  coast  road.  It 
was  a  cool  windy  night.  But  she  found  she  was  too  upset 
to  calm  down  all  at  once.  She  did  wish  Dane  had  not  been 
so  drunk  as  to  be  still  in  bed.  She  could  not  see  how  he 
could  be  any  more  sensitive  than  she  to  the  tragedy  in 
life.  Much  of  her  positive  manner  was  due  to  the  fact 
that  she  had  to  set  her  teeth  on  life  or  she  could  not  have 
endured  it  herself.  She  stopped  in  the  road  and  looked 
up  at  a  black  cloud  that  blotted  out  a  part  of  the  Milky 


140  THE  STRANGE  ATTRACTION 

Way.  Then  hardly  knowing  why  she  swung  round  and 
teent  back  to  the  hotel. 

She  had  not  been  in  her  room  two  minutes  before  there 
came  a  knock  on  her  door.  Michael  stood  there. 

"  Miss  Carr,"  he  began,  with  his  ready  sentimental 
smile,  "  there's  a  man  in  the  house  who  would  like  you  to 
play  to  him."  He  had  the  manner  of  a  person  who  was 
continuously  performing  deeds  that  had  to  be  disguised 
or  hidden,  and  he  infused  a  perfectly  innocent  proceeding 
yrilh  an  air  of  furtive  wickedness. 

"  Oh,  is  there?  Then  I  shall  be  very  glad  to  play." 
She  tried  to  keep  her  voice  casual. 

She  closed  the  door  of  the  sitting-room  behind  her 
wondering  if  Dane  were  in  one  of  the  rooms  next  it.  She 
knew  one  was  Mac's.  She  knew  afterwards  that  she  had 
played  deliberately,  or  that  she  had  started  deliberately 
to  get  hold  of  the  man  who  was  listening  to  her.  Once  lost 
in  the  music  she  forgot  him,  and  he  existed  only  as  a 
subconscious  stimulus.  At  the  end  of  two  hours  she  felt 
herself  running  down.  She  stopped  and  sat  still  on  the 
piano  stool  half  expecting  some  sign  from  him.  But  she 
heard  nothing,  and  disappointed  went  back  to  her  room. 
Under  her  door  she  found  a  note  in  a  sealed  envelope.  In 
the  middle  of  the  folded  piece  of  paper  was  written, 
"  Thanks,  Miss  Freedom,  for  a  golden  hour  in  a  leaden 
rday." 

It  was  one  of  those  fragments  in  the  development  of  a 
Human  relation  that  have  a  significance  invisible  to  the 
casual  eye.  Valerie  could  not  have  torn  it  up  or  put  it 
in  the  waste-paper  basket.  On  the  other  hand  she  had 
not  reached  the  exuberant  stage  when  she  wished  to  kiss 
it  or  put  it  in  a  scented  sachet.  She  studied  the  nervous 
writing  for  a  minute,  and  then  folded  it  up  and  put  it  in 
a  little  tin  box  with  a  copy  of  her  will,  some  receipts,  some 


THE  STRANGE  ATTRACTION  141 

old  photos  of  herself  and  Bob  and  her  father  on  the  yacht, 
and  other  miscellaneous  things  which  for  one  reason  and 
another  she  wished  to  keep. 

Then  she  sat  down  on  her  bed  and  stayed  very  still  for 
some  time.  She  recognized  some  kind  of  crisis  in  her  life. 
It  had  come  to  her  in  the  office  when  she  offered  her  resig- 
nation to  Bob.  Something  inside  her  said  "  Now  or 
never."  And  she  wondered  how  many  people  in  the  history 
of  relationships  acted  on  the  "  Now." 


Ill 

"Have  you  had  a  hard  week?  You  seem  tired."  Fa- 
ther Ryan  looked  solicitously  at  Valerie  as  she  sat  down 
to  dinner. 

"  I'm  more  cross  than  tired.  I  haven't  slept  well  the 
last  night  or  two.  And  life  makes  me  so  cross  sometimes. 
There's  poor  Duffield  still  alive.  Why,  why,  when  he  has 
to  die?  Why  is  nature  so  brutal?  " 

The  little  priest  waved  his  soft  hands.  "  We  have  to 
leave  all  that." 

"  I've  noticed  that  most  of  us  do  leave  it,"  she  retorted. 

"  What  are  you  going  to  do  to-night  ?  "  he  asked  after 
a  minute's  silence. 

"  Nothing  in  particular.  That  is,  I  was  going  for  a 
ride." 

"  Would  you  like  to  come  with  me  to  the  hospital  and 
play  to  the  patients?  I  have  to  see  a  man  there  who  is 
v*ery  ill  with  pneumonia.  There  is  a  piano  there  seldom 
used.  I  think  they'd  like  some  music." 

"  Yes  indeed  I  will.  Will  the  matron  let  me  play  at 
night?" 

"  Yes,  I'm  sure  it  will  be  all  right.  It's  in  the  accident 
ward." 


142  THE  STRANGE  ATTRACTION 

Valerie  had  never  been  in  a  public  hospital,  and  when 
she  walked  into  the  long  ward  with  the  night  nurse  she 
got  a  funny  gulp  in  her  throat,  and  a  sense  of  the  vast 
areas  of  human  experience  that  had  so  far  been  unknown 
lands  to  her.  She  was  struck  silent  by  the  piteousness 
of  the  two  rows  of  white  cots  and  the  shapeless  lumps  that 
lay  under  the  white  quilts.  The  ward  was  always  full,  for 
this  was  the  only  hospital  on  the  river.  There  were  all 
kinds  of  heads  and  faces  projected  sharply  against  the 
pillows.  Some  turned  as  they  walked  in  and  others, 
gripped  by  a  benumbing  indifference  to  the  things  of  earth, 
lay  still.  She  saw  that  three  beds  had  screens  round 
them,  and  wondered  what  stricken  things  lay  there  to  be 
hidden  away  from  the  rest.  She  was  glad  she  was  to  sit 
with  her  back  to  them.  She  felt  she  could  never  have 
played  if  she  had  had  to  face  them. 

She  dug  out  of  her  memory  the  things  she  thought  her 
varied  audience  would  like,  cheerful  things,  happy  songs 
and  dances,  and  a  little  sentimental  music  to  stir  the 
pulses  of  the  dreamers.  She  had  asked  the  nurse  to  stop 
her  when  it  was  advisable,  but  no  one  stayed  her  hand. 
At  last  her  mood  began  to  break.  Something  began  to 
distract  her.  She  finished  rather  abruptly  a  waltz  by 
Brahms  and  turned  on  her  stool.  Half-way  down  the 
ward,  sitting  with  the  nurse,  she  saw  Dane  Barrington. 
She  stood  up  and  they  came  towards  her. 

"  Oh,  will  you  sing?  "  she  said  impulsively  to  Dane. 

He  gave  her  a  black  look.  "  Sing !  Good  God !  How 
could  I  sing  here?  " 

She  felt  chilled  at  once  at  the  pain  in  his  eyes.  But 
she  resented  his  suffering. 

The  nurse  thanked  her  eloquently  and  moved  off  to  a 
man  who  had  beckoned  to  her. 

"  Are  you  riding?  "  asked  Dane. 


THE  STRANGE  ATTRACTION  143 

"  Yes.     I  came  up  with  Father  Ryan." 

"  Oh.    Do  you  have  to  go  back  with  him?  " 

"  I  don't  have  to,  no." 

They  looked  at  each  other.  Something  came  out  of 
him  and  clutched  at  her. 

"  Then  I'll  tell  him  I'm  taking  you  back." 

"  All  right,  but  I  have  to  have  supper  with  Miss  Addi- 
son  first." 

"  Well,  that's  all  right.  I've  only  just  come.  I'm  go- 
ing to  sit  with  Duffield  for  a  while.  I'll  wait  for  you  at 
the  stable."  He  moved  off  with  the  air  of  a  man  who 
dreads  with  every  nerve  in  his  body  what  he  is  about  to 
do,  and  disappeared  behind  one  of  the  screens. 

The  hospital  superintendent,  Miss  Addison,  thought 
Valerie  rather  absent-minded  as  they  took  supper  in  her 
pleasant  little  sitting-room.  And  Valerie,  on  her  side,  was 
staggered  at  the  apparent  calmness  with  which  the  matron 
told  her  that  there  were  three  people  in  the  building  who 
could  not  possibly  live  a  week. 

IV 

Dane  was  pacing  back  and  forth  beside  the  stable  when 
she  went  out.  He  stood  still  when  he  saw  her  and  waited 
for  her  to  come  up  to  him.  He  felt  her  life  and  vitality 
and  sympathy  reaching  out  to  him.  It  enfolded  him  like 
a  warm  and  gracious  garment  on  a  cold  day.  He  made 
an  impulsive  movement  and  seized  her  hands. 

"  Oh,  man,  how  can  you  live  if  you  suffer  like  this  about 
people?"  she  said,  and  in  spite  of  herself  a  shade  of 
criticism  crept  into  her  tone. 

His  raw  nerves  recoiled  from  it  at  once. 

"  Good  God !  You  go  and  sit  by  that  man  and  look 
into  his  eyes  as  I  have  been  doing.  He  can't  talk  except 
with  his  eyes,  and  he  is  putting  the  despairing  questions 


144  THE  STRANGE  ATTRACTION 

of  ages  into  them.  I  tell  you  if  you  looked  at  them  long 
you'd  go  mad.  If  it  is  easy  for  you  to  forget  the  God- 
damned mess  and  mystery  of  all  this  it  isn't  for  me."  He 
flung  her  hands  away  and  stamped  off  to  the  stable. 

Valerie  bit  her  lips  and  looked  up  at  the  impotent  stars 
so  brilliant  in  the  clear  May  night  that  they  silvered  the 
river  running  below.  For  the  first  time  in  her  life  she 
had  not  the  faintest  idea  what  she  was  going  to  say  next, 
what  she  could  say  next  to  comfort  this  man.  It  was  all 
very  well  for  her  to  feel  deep  within  herself  that  the  only 
answer  to  him  was  to  antidote  tragedy  with  beauty,  death 
with  life.  How  was  she  to  say  it  and  not  be  cheap  and 
banal?  She  was  feeling  strained  and  uncertain  when 
Dane  led  the  horses  out. 

"  I'm  sorry  I  was  rude,  Miss  Carr,"  he  said,  as  he 
stopped  before  her. 

She  had  a  wild  impulse  to  throw  her  arms  about  him  as 
he  stood  with  his  head  a  little  on  one  side  looking  at  her. 

"  You  were  not  rude,"  she  said  softly. 

She  let  him  help  her  to  mount,  and  she  put  her  hand 
on  his  shoulder  with  a  significant  pressure.  They  rode  in 
silence  out  of  the  hospital  grounds  and  along  the  road 
by  the  river.  She  stole  looks  at  him  as  he  kept  his  horse 
abreast  of  hers.  He  had  a  tweed  cap  tilted  back  on  his 
head  that  gave  him  a  curiously  rakish  look  as  it  pressed 
his  hair  out  round  his  white  face.  She  wondered  why  he 
wanted  her  company  for  he  did  not  seem  aware  of  her  at 
all.  But  she  had  no  desire  to  clutch  at  his  reserves.  She 
looked  up  at  the  stars  and  tried  to  think  her  own  thoughts. 

About  a  mile  from  the  hospital  he  pulled  up  his  horse. 
He  looked  up  a  scrub-covered  slope  to  their  left.  He 
seemed  to  find  something. 

"  Are  you  in  a  hurry?  "  he  asked. 

"  No." 


THE  STRANGE  ATTRACTION  145 

"  There's  a  track  off  here  to  the  coast.  Will  you  ride 
out  there?  I  don't  want  to  go  home.  I  don't  want  to  be 
alone." 

"  Of  course  I  will." 

He  led  the  way  up  a  rough  incline  covered  with  low 
ti-tree  and  broken  by  small  washouts.  Then  they  came 
out  upon  the  plain  where  there  was  a  maze  of  old  tracks 
partly  overgrown  and  often  treacherous.  They  went 
slowly,  for  he  missed  the  way  every  now  and  then  and  they 
had  to  go  back  and  pick  it  up  again.  The  air  was  keen 
and  salty,  with  a  light  night  wind  rustling  about  the 
bushes.  The  sound  of  the  surf  advanced  and  receded  as 
they  twisted  and  turned. 

Valerie  lost  the  sense  of  her  own  identity,  and  it  was 
not  till  Dane  pulled  his  horse  up  at  the  head  of  the  ravine, 
and  she  saw  the  dull  line  of  the  surf  below,  that  she  came 
back  to  herself  and  him. 

He  had  been  lost  too,  groping  in  a  great  blankness  of 
pain  and  despair,  but  instinctively  feeling  his  way  to  a 
little  glimmer  of  light,  impulsively  following  its  little 
flicker,  thinking  of  the  moment  when  he  might  get  to  it. 

"  Shall  we  go  down?  "  he  asked,  turning  to  look  at  her, 
as  she  sat  straight  and  tense  on  her  horse. 

*'  Of  course,  if  you'd  like  to." 

She  wondered  if  he  still  had  the  tent.  They  trusted  to 
their  horses  to  steer  them  safely  through  the  Cimmerian 
darkness  of  the  gully,  for  they  could  see  nothing  till  the 
dull  white  shadow  of  the  cottages  showed  through  the 
trees  on  the  open  lower  level.  When  they  came  opposite 
the  Bentons',  which  was  nearest  to  the  beach,  Dane 
stopped  again. 

"  Would  it  be  too  cold  for  you  to  sit  out  a  while?  I 
have  coats  and  things  in  the  tent." 

**  No,  I  never  catch  cold." 


146  THE  STRANGE  ATTRACTION 

As  he  led  the  horses  to  Roger's  stable  she  remembered 
that  it  must  be  after  midnight.  But  the  next  day  was 
Sunday.  And  then  her  morality  had  never  been  regulated 
by  the  position  of  bits  of  steel  on  a  clock's  face. 

He  came  back  to  her  and  led  the  way  into  the  tent  and 
lit  a  candle. 

He  took  a  warm  coat  off  his  pole  and  helped  her  into 
it,  and  put  on  his  red  sweater,  and  pulled  a  rug  off  his 
cot.  He  led  the  way  to  a  hollow  half-way  up  the  side  of 
the  cliff  where  they  could  look  down  upon  the  surf.  He 
sat  down  beside  her  and  wrapped  the  rug  about  their 
feet  and  knees,  took  out  his  pipe  and  began  to  smoke.  He 
forgot  to  offer  her  a  cigarette. 

She  waited  a  little  and  then  asked  him  for  one.  He 
came  to  her  out  of  a  far-away  mood  and  looked  at  her  al- 
most in  surprise.  Then  he  was  smitten  with  a  quick  re- 
morse for  his  discourtesy. 

"  Lord !  I'm  sorry.  Miss  Carr,  I'm  behaving  very 
badly.  Why,  I  forgot  you  were  there,  that  is,  I  knew  you 
were  there,  but — hang  it,  how  can  I  say  it  ?  "  His  tone 
showed  that  he  was  less  tragic  than  he  had  been  when 
they  started  out  from  the  hospital. 

"  You  don't  have  to  say  it.  I  understand,"  she  said 
eloquently.  "  You  are  really  paying  me  a  great  compli- 
ment." 

He  held  up  the  rug  enclosing  them  in  an  intimate  snug- 
ness  while  she  lit  her  cigarette.  But  his  suffering  had  gone 
much  too  deep  to  be  lightened  all  at  once.  As  he  smoked 
on  he  retreated  from  her  into  his  own  thoughts. 

Valerie  leaned  back  a  little  against  a  thick  clump  of 
rushes  so  that  she  could  look  at  his  figure  bent  forward, 
his  hands  clasped  about  his  knees,  his  face  turned  from 
her  sometimes  staring  straight  out  over  the  black  sea, 
and  sometimes  raised  "to  the  sky.  There  was  something 


THE  STRANGE  ATTRACTION  147 

about  the  way  he  sat,  about  the  forlorn  droop  of  his 
shoulders,  the  set  of  his  head  upon  them,  that  made  her 
mad  to  throw  her  arms  about  him  and  pull  him  back  into 
a  live  warm  world.  She  relentlessly  fought  these  impulses, 
the  most  powerful  she  had  ever  known,  because  she  was 
so  uncertain  about  him.  She  had  not  the  faintest  idea 
how  far,  if  at  all,  he  had  committed  his  feeling  to  her. 

Suddenly  he  swung  round  to  her,  taking  his  pipe  from 
his  mouth.  He  adjusted  the  rug  which  he  had  disar- 
ranged. 

"  You  know,  I  was  just  wondering  how  far  the  human 
race  might  have  got  without  words.  Individuals  can  get 
on  quite  well  without  them.  I  got  an  amusing  picture  of 
everybody  going  about  in  a  great  silence,  smiling,  point- 
ing, making  signs,  very  restful,  eh?  " 

"  Why  " — she  was  dislocated  out  of  her  own  mood, 
"  we  shouldn't  have  got  very  far  with  art,  invention,  all 
that  we  call  civilization,  should  we?  " 

"  We  might  have  developed  some  other  kind  of  civiliza- 
tion, a  better  kind.  We  haven't  done  so  much  after  all. 
We've  learned  a  lot  about  comfort,  something  of  beauty. 
We  have  learned  to  save  life  from  some  of  its  diseases,  and 
words  have  been  instrumental  in  spreading  information 
about  those  things,  yes."  He  looked  up  at  the  sky  a  mo- 
ment and  went  on  as  if  he  were  talking  to  himself.  "  How 
little  we  have  done  after  all.  We  can't  make  a  fine  human 
being,  the  test,  the  real  test.  Nobody  knows  what  will 
produce  a  Confucius  or  a  Caesar.  They  just  happen. 
Our  great  men  are  accidents,  produced  by  so  frail  a 
chance  that  it  is  astonishing  to  contemplate  it.  The 
moods  and  senses,  forced  or  spontaneous,  of  a  couple  of 
people  with  no  notion  of  producing  a  hero,  a  fortuitous 
collaboration  of  passion  and  circumstance  and  a  fragment 
of  life  force,  and  behold!  a  great  man  results.  What  a 


148  THE  STRANGE  ATTRACTION 

joke !  And  not  a  person  in  all  history  has  ever  contributed 
a  practical  idea  as  to  the  making  of  him.  Some  people 
think  health  does  it,  some  think  education,  some  think  the 
Bible,  some  think  matching  a  tall  fair  man  with  a  short 
dark  woman,  some  think  breeding,  some  think  free  love. 
And  what  is  the  result  of  all  those  theories?  The  same 
uncertainty  everywhere.  And  often  with  the  more  breed- 
ing there  is  the  poorest  result,  and  with  the  more  chance 
the  better.  Out  of  nowhere  comes  a  Lincoln  and  out  of 
aristocrats  an  idiot !  " 

He  dropped  his  head  on  to  his  knees  a  moment. 

"  And  then  when  you  get  the  best  that  we  can  do,  it  is 
a  specimen  tragically  fragile  and  incomplete,  so  easily 
maimed  and  broken,  and  so  pathetically  helpless  with  his 
own  kind.  Numbers  of  our  cleverest  men  can  do  wonders 
with  anything  but  themselves.  Men  who  can  paint  splen- 
did pictures  are  often  dirty,  offensive,  bedraggled  human 
beings  eternally  suffering  from  indigestion,  men  who  can 
compose  glorious  music  are  half  mad  and  full  of  childish 
vanity,  men  who  can  write  great  books  are  mean-spirited, 
nervous  persons  who  fly  into  a  rage  at  the  sight  of  one 
man's  adverse  opinion,  men  who  can  lead  armies  to  victory 
are  afraid  of  their  mothers-in-law,  men  who  can  build 
magnificent  bridges  and  govern  empires  are  putty  in  the 
hands  of  their  mistresses " 

Valerie  laughed  out,  throwing  up  her  head. 

"Well,  isn't  it  a  spectacle?"  he  demanded,  almost 
fiercely. 

"  Yes,  it  is." 

"  Do  you  think  there's  any  system  at  the  back  of  it 
all?" 

"  I  feel  there  ought  to  be.    But  I  don't  know." 

"  I  get  so  tired  thinking  about  it,"  he  said,  drooping 
again. 


THE  STRANGE  ATTRACTION  149 

She  put  out  her  hand  and  buried  her  fingers  in  the 
hair  on  the  back  of  his  bowed  head. 

He  turned  to  her  at  once,  and  throwing  an  arm  about 
her,  grasped  hers  on  the  further  side  of  him  with  a  hot 
and  nervous  clutch.  He  nosed  his  face  into  her  neck  so 
that  his  hair  tickled  her  cheek.  And  then  he  lay  still,  like 
a  tired  child,  sure  of  its  resting  place. 

Valerie  drew  a  long  breath  and  then  exerted  all  her 
will  power  to  drive  back  the  excitement  that  heaved  up 
inside  her.  She  knew  that  Dane  was  not  at  that  moment 
thinking  of  her  as  a  woman  at  all.  She  had  no  illusions 
as  to  the  possibility  of  his  being  a  blazing  and  imperious 
lover  when  he  was  moved.  But  he  was  not  a  perennial 
dribbler  of  sensation,  and  something,  she  could  not  tell 
what,  was  holding  him  back. 

So  she  sat  very  still  herself,  keeping  her  free  hand  away 
from  his  head,  and  trying  to  give  him  just  the  comfort 
of  a  presence  that  she  felt  he  wanted.  She  tried  to  hold 
on  to  the  sensation  that  the  nestling  of  his  head  in  her 
neck  gave  her.  After  a  while  he  sat  up  suddenly,  ran  his 
hands  through  his  hair,  and  looked  for  his  pipe  which  he 
had  put  down  in  the  sand. 

Then  he  turned  to  her.  "  I  say,  I  haven't  any  business 
to  be  keeping  you  out  like  this.  It  must  be  very  late. 
I'm  very  selfish." 

She  felt  an  intense  irritation,  what  at  she  did  not  know, 
and  then  she  felt  cold. 

"  Why,  I'm  not  a  child,"  she  said,  with  just  a  touch  of 
sharpness  in  her  tone.  She  sat  up  conscious  again  of  a 
sense  of  frustration. 

He  filled  his  pipe  slowly  and  began  to  smoke.  It  had 
grown  cold  and  feeling  it  now  she  shivered.  Dane  got  to 
his  feet  and  held  out  his  hands  to  her.  She  felt  he  was 
conscious  of  her  drifting  experimental  mood,  and  that  for 


150  THE  STRANGE  ATTRACTION 

some  reason  he  was  fighting  it  and  managing  it.  It  em- 
barrassed her  and  made  her  feel  crude  and  undignified. 
And  that  made  her  angry  at  him.  He  walked  ahead  of 
her  to  the  tent  and  threw  in  the  rug.  Then  he  helped  her 
off  with  his  coat  and  after  pulling  off  his  own  sweater 
looked  at  his  watch. 

"  Good  Lord !  It's  two  o'clock !  How  will  you  get  into 
the  hotel  ?  I'll  go  there  with  you  and " 

"  You  don't  have  to,  my  dear  man.  What  kind  of  babe 
do  you  think  I  am?  I'll  knock  on  Michael's  window.  Mac 
told  me  to." 

He  peered  curiously  at  her  in  the  starlight. 

"  Of  course,"  she  said.  "  I  asked  him  what  I  would  do 
if  I  was  out  after  midnight." 

Then  she  saw  his  face  light  up  against  the  dull  white 
tent  wall. 

"  You  are  very  nice  and  unafraid,  Miss  Freedom,  aren't 
you? "  he  said  softly,  and  turned  along  the  path  to 
Roger's  stable. 

They  rode  in  silence  through  the  ravine  and  for  some 
way  along  the  flat  above.  They  were  more  uncomfortable 
with  each  other  than  they  had  ever  been.  Valerie  knew 
that  she  had  intended  Dane  to  kiss  her  down  there,  and 
the  fact  that  he  had  not  done  so  made  her  look  foolish  in 
her  own  eyes.  But  the  thing  that  disturbed  her  much 
more  was  the  fear  that  he  had  sensed  her  intention.  This 
fear  froze  her  into  a  complete  detachment  from  him  as  she 
rode  beside  him. 

At  the  borders  of  Dargaville  he  stopped. 

"  You  have  been  very  kind  to  me  to-night,  Miss  Carr, 
very  kind.  Now  are  you  sure  you're  all  right  ?  " 

She  was  absurdly  hurt  again  all  at  once.  "  Oh,  I 
haven't  been  kind,"  she  said  impatiently,  "  and  I'm  quite 
all  right,  thank  you."  She  held  out  her  hand. 


THE  STRANGE  ATTRACTION     151 

As  he  took  it  and  gripped  it  firmly  he  looked  at  her  and 
seemed  about  to  speak.  But  instead  he  leaned  down  over 
her  hand  and  pressed  a  kiss  upon  it,  and  swinging  his  horse 
away  from  her,  rode  off. 

Valerie  could  not  have  told  whether  it  was  a  town  or  a 
forest  she  rode  on  through,  for  she  saw  nothing  of  it.  A 
fierce  excitement  burned  through  her,  making  her  a  little 
sick  with  the  stress  of  it. 

When  she  reached  her  room  she  threw  up  her  window  at 
the  bottom,  drew  her  chair  to  it,  and  sat  down.  Her 
thoughts  swirled  about  in  her  mind  for  some  time,  and  out 
of  the  swirl  emerged  a  few  well-defined  certainties.  She 
had  wanted  Dane  to  kiss  her.  She  was  falling  in  love  with 
him.  She  wanted  to  fall  in  love  with  him.  She  wanted 
him  to  love  her.  But  he  drank.  Perhaps  he  took  mor- 
phia. He  was  a  strange  and  difficult  person.  She  did 
not  understand  him.  And  then  the  question,  What  was 
she  going  to  do  about  it?  And  the  questions,  Did  he  care 
for  her?  If  not,  could  she  make  him  care?  What  was  it 
that  halted  him  every  now  and  then? 

She  had  not  found  any  answer  when  at  last  she  fell 
asleep. 


CHAPTER  X 


DANE  had  not  ridden  more  than  a  quarter  of  a 
mile  away  from  her  when  he  pulled  up  his  horse 
and   turned   off  in   a  northerly   direction.     He 
crossed  the  Kaihu  road  and  found  his  way  down  to  the 
river  road  leading  to  his  home. 

He  could  not  put  Valerie  out  of  his  mind,  and  he  knew 
now  what  he  was  coming  to  with  her.  He  knew  he  could 
not  be  with  her  again,  as  they  had  been  down  in  the  sand- 
hills, without  kissing  her.  He  was  not  in  love  with  her 
yet,  but  he  wanted  to  be  in  love  with  her.  He  wanted  her 
to  make  life  vivid  and  positive  again,  just  once,  just  once 
more.  She  had  made  him  painfully  aware  of  his  loneli- 
ness. 

And  yet  he  had  sworn  that  never  again  would  he  become 
mixed  up  with  any  woman.  For  a  man  who  loved  women 
it  was  an  absurd  resolve,  and  he  had  as  he  rode  now  a  full 
sense  of  its  absurdity.  And  then,  Valerie  was  different 
from  all  the  women  he  had  known.  She  stood  apart.  She 
seemed  fine  and  sincere.  But  he  knew  it  was  not  her  char- 
acter that  attracted  him.  What  did  a  man  ever  think 
about  a  woman's  character?  He  ought  to  emphasize  it, 
but  he  never  did.  No,  it  was  her  vividness,  her  vitality, 
the  suggestion  of  softness  and  allurement  deep  within  her, 
the  tones  in  her  voice  when  she  lowered  it,  her  mischievous 
'desirous  eyes  and  her  tantalizing  mouth;  these  were  the 
things  about  her  tKat  beguiled  him. 

152 


THE  STRANGE  ATTRACTION  153 

He  pulled  his  horse  to  a  standstill  on  the  hill  above  his 
house.  He  often  paused  there  to  look  down  upon  it.  It 
gave  him  a  feeling  of  peace.  He  loved  to  come  back  to  its 
scented  splendour  after  the  dry  bareness  about  the  tent. 
These  contrasts  intensified  his  sense  of  life.  He  wondered 
what  it  would  be  like  to  have  Valerie  there  filling  the  house 
with  her  music.  He  could  see  himself  lying  in  the  ham- 
mock listening. 

He  rode  down  and  went  in,  hushing  his  dogs.  He  slept 
better  than  he  expected  and  woke  to  a  fine  cool  late  May 
day.  He  ate  his  breakfast  outside  and  settled  down  in  his 
hammock  afterwards  to  smoke.  But  he  could  not  keep  his 
thoughts  on  the  thing  he  had  meant  to  write. 

He  kept  seeing  Valerie,  not  as  he  had  seen  her  the  night 
Kefore,  but  as  he  had  seen  her  the  first  time  in  the  office, 
and  then  again  as  she  lay  unconscious  in  the  yard.  And 
he  wondered  if  she  were  seriously  interested  in  him.  He 
never  over-emphasized  the  importance  of  sentimental 
moods.  It  did  not  occur  to  him  that  because  she  had  put 
her  hand  on  his  head  the  night  before  it  was  an  indication 
that  she  was  in  love  with  him.  He  knew  now  she  was  not 
the  child  he  had  first  thought  her.  She  had  probably  been 
kissed  by  many  men. 

Well,  what  of  it  all?  He  had  not  followed  all  his  im- 
pulses with  her.  Something  had  held  him  back.  A  tangle 
of  inhibitions,  indeed.  He  could  not  tell  which  of  them 
was  the  stronger,  but  he  thought  of  Davenport  Carr  first. 
He  knew  well  enough  what  that  social  autocrat  would 
think  of  his  association  with  his  daughter  in  any  way 
whatsoever.  And  he  was  deeply  indebted  to  Davenport 
Carr.  And  he  simply  must  keep  away  front  his  daughter. 

And  if  he  went  on  how  would  it  end,  anyway?  Just  as 
it  had  always  ended.  With  him  love  had  always  destroyed 
itself.  And  he  felt  he  could  never  hold  Valerie.  She  was 


154i  THE  STRANGE  ATTRACTION; 

set  for  so  much  more  in  life  than  love.  For  one  thing,  she 
would  never  stay  here  with  him  by  the  river.  And  he 
would  want  to  stay  by  the  river. 

He  thought  back  over  his  life.  He  knew  he  had  packed 
into  fifteen  years  the  intensities  that  stronger  men  spread 
over  forty.  He  had  lived  with  a  reckless  disregard  of 
health  or  old  age.  He  had  never  seen  any  good  reason  for 
living  long,  for  living  past  the  summit  of  one's  powers. 
He  loathed  the  thought  of  a  nerveless,  loveless,  ravaged  old 
age,  and  so  he  had  flung  roses  riotously  with  the  throng 
till  he  had  broken  down.  Then,  forced  to  face  alterna- 
tives, to  estimate  his  spiritual  assets  and  liabilities,  he  had 
been  surprised  to  find  that  he  cared  to  live  on  a  basis  of 
revaluation.  He  laid  most  of  the  world  away,  and  came 
back  to  concentrate  his  forces  on  his  work  and  on  such 
beauty  as  he  could  find  there  within  reach  of  his  old  place. 

And  he  told  himself  that  he,  a  clouded  and  despairing 
spirit,  had  no  business  to  snatch  at  the  brightness  of  un- 
tarnished youth  going  by,  had  no  business  to  impose  the 
moods  and  habits  of  a  reckless  life  upon  the  fine  hope  and 
gaiety  of  a  purposeful  one.  He  saw  it  all  very  clearly 
that  May  morning. 

The  next  day  it  turned  cold  and  rained  and  there  fol- 
lowed a  week  of  early  winter  weather  that  depressed  him. 
He  did  not  go  into  Mac's  at  all.  It  was  too  cold  to  enjoy 
his  launch.  After  two  bad  nights  he  came  to  a  decision. 
He  ordered  his  tent  and  its  belongings  brought  home.  He 
packed  into  chests  and  locked  up  the  smaller  and  more 
valuable  of  his  things,  and  leaving  his  boys  as  he  had  be- 
fore to  look  after  them  and  his  house  till  he  should  return, 
he  slipped  away  to  Auckland  and  to  Sydney  for  the  winter. 
He  knew  what  he  was  doing.  For  the  first  time  in  his  ex- 
perience he  was  running  away  from  life. 


THE  STRANGE  ATTRACTION  155 


II 

He  was  gone  for  nearly  two  weeks  before  Valerie  knew 
it.  She  had  thought  of  him  a  good  deal  in  the  wet  days 
following  the  night  on  the  sand-hills,  and  supposed  he  was 
keeping  in  out  of  the  unpleasant  weather.  She  had  spent 
her  idle  moments  speculating  as  to  what  turn  their  next 
meeting  would  take.  Then  in  a  letter  from  her  father  she 
learned  that  he  had  lunched  with  Dane  the  day  he  left  for 
Sydney.  She  was  hurt  and  angry,  without  reason,  as  she 
admitted  to  herself.  He  was  in  no  way  committed  to  tell- 
ing her  of  his  doings.  And  then  she  began  to  wonder  if 
he  had  run  away  from  her,  and  why. 

But  as  the  days  went  by  she  had  less  and  less  time  to 
indulge  in  her  own  thoughts.  She  was  drawn  and  will- 
ingly enough  into  the  burning  issues  of  that  memorable 
campaign  when  the  old  Liberal  Party  that  Dick  Seddon 
led  triumphantly  into  battle  and  victory  for  fifteen  odd 
years  crumbled  before  that  mysterious  force  in  the  world 
that  brings  about  a  change.  The  little  office  became  a 
more  strenuous  place  than  ever.  Two  local  girls  had 
been  added  to  the  typesetting  staff.  One  of  the  book- 
keepers from  Roger's  store  had  been  transferred  to  help 
Valerie  for  half  his  time.  The  jobbing  work  was  mount- 
ing up  every  day.  As  Bob  was  away  a  good  deal  now  with 
Roger,  the  running  of  the  office  single-handed  was  a  con- 
siderable job  for  Valerie.  She  now  began  at  eight  in  the 
morning,  and  was  often  there  till  ten  at  night.  But  she 
revelled  in  these  swift  days,  and  had  many  a  thrill  over 
obstacles  overcome.  She  was  a  person  who  was  warmed 
by  many  fires  and  able  to  make  many  burn  for  her.  She 
got  increasing  pleasure  out  of  the  devotion  of  Jimmy  and 
Miss  Hands,  and  out  of  the  cooperation  of  Roger's  com- 


156  THE  STRANGE  ATTRACTION 

mittee.  She  even  discovered  likeable  qualities  in  Boltori 
and  Allison,  who  were  at  least  devoted  backers  of  their 
political  party,  and  able  to  admire  the  work  she  was  doing 
for  it.  Her  favourite  on  the  committee  was  the  lawyer, 
George  Rhodes,  who  was  doing  fine  work  digging  into  the 
past  history  of  the  enemy  and  bringing  into  the  clear  light 
of  day  the  things  it  most  wished  to  have  buried  forever. 
But  Valerie  liked  working  with  all  of  them.  She  liked  the 
mysterious  change  that  was  wrought  in  people  who  were 
working  for  a  common  cause,  the  sense  of  fraternity  that 
developed  among  them. 

But  even  in  this  exhilarating  hustle  the  thought  of  Dane 
lay  slumbrous  ever  at  the  back  of  Valerie's  mind,  and  when 
at  the  end  of  five  weeks  she  got  a  letter  from  him  she  was 
amazed  at  the  feeling  it  roused  in  her.  It  came  to  the 
office  with  the  mail  from  the  steamer  about  five  o'clock,  but 
when  she  saw  it  was  seven  closely  written  pages  she  had  to 
put  it  aside  till  she  should  be  finished  for  the  day.  And 
that  was  not  till  half-past  ten  that  night.  Then  by  the 
light  of  two  candles  she  read  it  in  her  room.  It  was  a  de- 
lightful letter,  intimate  and  impersonal,  saying  nothing 
and  everything.  And  it  filled  her  with  questions  as  to 
what  she  was  going  to  do  with  herself  and  him  when  he 
came  back. 

As  he  had  given  her  no  address  she  wondered  if  he  were 
about  to  return,  but  at  the  end  of  a  week  she  wrote  to  him 
care  of  the  Sydney  Bulletin,  wrote  as  impersonally  as  he 
had  written  to  her,  of  the  progress  of  the  campaign  and 
the  humours  of  the  day.  Then  she  began  to  look  for  the 
Australian  mail,  but  she  heard  no  more  of  him  till,  well  on 
in  August,  Father  Ryan  mentioned  casually  one  morning 
at  breakfast  that  Dane  had  been  a  passenger  with  him  on 
the  steamer  from  Auckland  the  day  before. 


THE  STRANGE  ATTRACTION  157 


III 

Late  one  afternoon  in  the  last  week  in  the  month  Dane 
sat  playing  and  singing  to  himself  in  his  study.  He  had 
on  a  dull  red  lounging  robe  and  gay  soft  slippers.  Be- 
hind him  at  the  end  of  the  room  a  log  fire  was  burning 
low,  the  intermittent  flames  casting  spurts  of  light  across 
the  polished  case  of  the  piano,  and  glittering  for  a  second 
on  brass  candlesticks  and  picture  glass.  There  were  no 
Other  lights  in  the  room. 

This  had  been  the  parlour  of  the  old  mission  station, 
but  when  Dane  had  reconstructed  the  house  he  had  ex- 
tended it  by  some  eight  feet,  so  that  it  was  now  roomy 
enough  to  contain  without  overcrowding  a  varied  collec- 
tion of  furniture,  in  spite  of  the  fact  that  the  entire  avail- 
able wall  space  was  given  up  to  shelves  of  books.  Against 
the  front  window,  which  he  had  had  widened  for  the  sake 
of  light,  stood  an  old  Italian  table  and  cabinet,  the  former 
littered  with  manuscript  paper,  a  bronze  ink  set  of  curious 
English  workmanship,  a  jade  brush  pot  full  of  penholders, 
an  enamel  jar  for  tobacco,  a  carved  red  lacquer  cigarette 
box,  several  pipes,  a  pile  of  paper-backed  French  novels, 
some  disreputable  pieces  of  blotting-paper,  and  a  little 
ivory  box  in  which  he  kept  stamps.  The  chair  here  was 
Italian,  remodelled  with  a  soft  seat  of  old  tapestry  for 
comfort. 

There  were  several  tables,  English  and  Italian,  littered 
with  books,  and  a  fine  old  English  oak  chest  standing  at 
the  end  of  the  piano.  Before  the  fire  were  two  chairs  of 
the  low  leather  smoking-room  variety,  and  near  one  of 
them  a  table  covered  with  smoking  apparatus.  Above  the 
bookshelves  which  did  not  go  beyond  six  feet  up  the  walls 
were  water  colour  and  oil  sketches,  and  black  and  white 


158  THE  STRANGE  ATTRACTION 

drawings  by  Australian  artists.  Among  them  were  two 
heads  of  Dane  himself,  one  the  much-reproduced  pen  and 
ink  drawing  by  Norman  Lindsay,  a  wonderful  piece  of 
work,  and  a  fine  sketch  in  oils  by  Sid  Long. 

The  one  French  door  opening  onto  the  verandah,  and 
the  front  window  were  curtained  with  silken  stuff,  the  col- 
our of  burnished  copper,  which  carried  on  the  tint  in  the 
unpolished  rimu  walls.  There  were  brilliant  spots  of  col- 
our here  and  there  along  the  tops  of  the  bookshelves  in 
bits  of  Chinese  porcelain,  and  there  was  colour  in  three 
Persian  rugs  on  the  floor,  and  in  the  books,  but  after  com- 
ing out  of  the  other  this  looked  a  very  quiet  room,  and  in 
spite  of  its  diverse  objects  it  was  a  homogeneous  whole. 

Dane  lifted  his  hands  from  the  keyboard  on  hearing  his 
dogs  bark  outside. 

"  Mr.  Benton  coming  in,"  said  Lee  from  the  doorway. 

"  All  right.     Bring  him  in  here." 

Rather  glad  of  a  diversion  he  got  up  and  turned  to 
meet  Roger,  who  came  in  mud-spattered  as  from  a  long 
ride. 

"  Heard  yesterday  you  were  back,  Barrington.  I'm 
pretty  grubby."  Roger  looked  doubtfully  at  his  elegant 
host  and  at  the  room,  now  coming  to  light,  as  Lee  lit  lamps 
and  candles. 

"  You  won't  hurt  anything.  Sit  down."  Dane  indi- 
cated one  of  the  leather  chairs,  and  took  the  other  himself. 
"  How's  the  campaign  going?  " 

u  All  right  till  yesterday,  curse  it !  " 

"  What  happened  yesterday?  I  haven't  been  in  to  the 
town  for  days." 

"  Lorrimer  went  to  the  hospital,  down  with  pneumo- 
nia." 

Dane  looked  into  the  light  of  the  match  he  had  just  lit. 
"  That's  hard  luck,  certainly,"  Ke  said  sympathetically. 


THE  STRANGE  ATTRACTION  159 

"  It's  the  very  devil,"  said  Roger  gloomily. 

Lee  came  through  the  door  with  a  tray  and  put  it  on  a 
small  table. 

"  Wine  or  whisky,  Meester  Benton  ?  " 

"  Whisky ;  yes,  some  water,  thanks." 

"  Meester  Barrington,  what  for  you?  " 

"  Whisky,  please." 

When  the  boy  had  gone  out  Roger  went  on.  "  He  was 
doing  fine  in  the  electorate,  popular  everywhere,  and  send- 
ing good  stuff  to  the  paper.  Now  it  will  be  a  month  at 
least  before  he  is  fit  for  anything.  Miss  Carr  can  run  the 
office  all  right.  She's  a  wonder,  that  girl.  But  she  can't 
do  the  leaders  and  the  political  stuff." 

Dane  looked  hard  into  the  fire.  "  What  kind  of  a  start 
have  you  made  ?  " 

"  Quite  hopeful,  I  think.  In  fact,  I've  been  surprised  at 
some  of  the  places  support  has  come  from.  Of  course  we 
have  the  farmers.  They  have  always  been  for  Massey, 
But  it  looks  as  if  we  might  get  some  of  the  transient  vote, 
the  gumdiggers,  bush  fellers.  There's  a  change  in  the 
feeling,  talk  of  the  swing  in  the  country  to  Massey,  and  it 
is  a  good  thing  to  cultivate.  I  know  I'll  carry  most  of 
Dargaville,  and  there's  never  been  anyone  who  could  do 
that  before.  Mobray,  of  course,  will  carry  Te  Koperu. 
But  I  find  he's  more  unpopular  than  I  thought  he  was." 

"  Still  he  will  be  a  hard  man  to  beat.  And  what  about 
the  prohibition  issue?  " 

"  That's  the  devil  of  it.  It  isn't  certain  yet  whether 
Dodge  will  stand.  If  he  does,  the  damned  fool,  he  will 
split  the  votes,  and  then  nobody  can  guess  the  result.  If 
it  is  clear  cut  between  Mobray  and  me  I've  a  fighting 
chance " 

"  Then,  my  dear  Roger,  Dodge  must  be  bought.  Has 
anybody  thought  of  that  ?  " 


160  THE  STRANGE  ATTRACTION 

"  Well,  yes.  I've  put  Rhodes  on  to  it.  But  Dodge  is 
a  slippery  customer." 

"  The  more  slippery  he  is  the  more  certain  it  is  that  he 
will  stand  to  be  bought.  Name  a  figure  and  don't  budge 
from  it." 

"  Yes,  that's  the  idea,  I  know.  And  with  him  out  that 
leaves  us  both  liquor  men.  I've  been  approached  to  stand 
for  prohibition,  but  I'd  lose  more  than  I'd  gain  by  that." 

Dane  smiled  at  him.     "  No  labour  man  mentioned?  " 

"  No.  I  wish  there  were.  He'd  draw  from  Mobray, 
not  me.  Barrington,  I  wonder  if  you  could  find  out  where 
Townshend  stands.  He's  given  us  his  jobbing,  but  I  don't 
lean  on  that.  He's  always  been  for  Mobray,  but  he's  been 
very  amiable  to  me  since  I  came  out.  Only  he  won't  talk 
politics,  and  that's  a  bad  sign.  He  holds  the  election  in 
his  hands  if  his  men  are  solid." 

"  They  won't  be  solid." 

"  No,  that's  the  funny  part  of  politics  in  this  country. 
You  can't  count  on  anything." 

"  That  looks  as  if  the  voters  did  a  little  thinking. 
What  is  your  war  cry?  Justice  for  the  North?  " 

"  Yes,  and  it's  the  Kest  we  could  have.  It's  high  time 
the  Government  paid  some  attention  to  us.  Seddon  never 
did,  and  neither  has  Ward.  They  have  lived  for  the 
South.  And  we  mean  to  see  that  if  Massey  gets  the  lead 
he  will  take  some  notice  of  us  up  here.  If  I  get  in  for 
Waitemata,  and  Haines  gets  in  again  for  Marsden,  and 
Sloan  goes  in  for  the  Bay  of  Islands,  we  can  do  more  than 
talk  about  the  main  trunk  line  and  the  opening  up  of  the 
North." 

-"  Yes,  you  really  have  an  issue,  Roger.  I  was  amaze'd 
at  the  possibilities  of  the  North  when  I  went  over  it,  and 
at  the  little  that  had  been  done  for  it.  Not  a  decent  road 
anywhere.  And  it  has  the  finest  climate  in  the  country. 


THE  STRANGE  ATTRACTION  161 

Well,  here's  your  chance,  old  man.  You  will  go  down  in 
history  as  the  man  who  made  the  Government  make  the 
North,  that  is,  if  you  don't  get  swallowed  up  like  the  rest 
.of  them." 

"  Indeed,  I  will  not,"  retorted  Roger  with  a  fine  show  of 
decision. 

Dane  smiled  at  him  again,  but  the  other  man  subsided 
gloomily. 

"  Well,  I'm  not  in.  If  labour  is  solid  against  me  I 
.won't  get  in.  And  now  with  Lor  rimer  ill — curse  it !  "  He 
stared  into  the  fire. 

In  the  pause  that  followed  Dane  wondered  if  they  were 
both  thinking  the  same  thing. 

Roger  turned  abruptly  to  him.  "  I  say,  Barrington, 
would  you  help  us  out  with  leaders  and  some  articles? 
tYou  can  have  any  price  you  want." 

Dane  felt  the  hand  of  fate  upon  him.  Why  ever  run 
away  from  life  when  it  was  the  relentless  tracker  it  was? 
But  he  turned  quiet  eyes  upon  the  instrument  of  the  gods. 

"  I'll  think  about  it,  Benton.  But  I  don't  want  any 
price.  I  don't  need  the  money.  You  will  go  on  paying 
Lorrimer,  won't  you?  " 

"  Oh,  yes,  yes,  of  course.  But  will  you  really  do  it, 
Barrington?  I  would  prefer  to  pay " 

Dane  waved  his  hand  at  him.  "  It's  not  a  question  of 
money  at  all.  I'd  like  the  fun  of  being  in  the  game.  And 
my  knowledge  of  the  North  would  be  useful.  Are  you 
going  to  be  around  to-morrow  ?  " 

"  Yes,  I  have  a  conference  with  the  committee  in  Darga- 
ville  in  the  morning.  By  God,  Barrington,  do  say  you 
will  get  in  on  it."  There  was  no  mistaking  Roger's  anxi- 
ety in  the  matter. 

"  I'd  like  to  think  about  it  to-night  a  little.  I  would 
go  in  under  Miss  Carr,  of  course.  I've  no  desire  to  run 


162 

the  News.  The  idea  is  that  I  would  simply  send  in  the 
stuff?  " 

"  That's  it." 

"  I'll  tell  you  definitely  in  the  morning,  Benton,  how 
much  I  will  do.  You  can  count  on  me  for  something,  any- 
way." 

"  By  Jove,  Barrington,  I  am  grateful  to  you.  But  I 
really  do  not  wish  to  impose  on  your  good  nature." 

"  My  good  nature "  Dane  looked  past  him  at  Lee 

who  stood  in  the  doorway  signalling  with  his  eyes.  "  Will 
you  dine  with  me,  Benton?  "  he  added. 

"  Oh,  thanks,  no,  I  can't.  Is  it  as  late  as  that?  "  He 
got  to  his  feet.  "  I  must  be  getting  along.  Don't  get  up, 
old  chap.  You  look  darned  comfortable  down  there." 
Roger  beamed  upon  him  almost  affectionately. 

But  Dane  did  get  up,  and  led  the  way  through  the  hall 
to  the  front  door. 

"  See  you  in  the  morning  then,  at  the  store.  Will  eleven 
suit  you?  " 

"Admirably.     Good-night." 

Roger  clinked  down  the  front  steps  feeling  he  had  been 
very  clever.  If  he  could  only  secure  Dane  for  the  News 
he  knew  he  would  have  the  most  potent  and  penetrating 
pen  the  elections  would  know. 

Dane  paced  back  and  forth  on  his  front  verandah  till 
his  dinner  should  be  ready.  He  paused  now  and  then  to 
look  up  at  pallid  gray  clouds  gathering  density  every  min- 
ute in  a  bottle-green  sky  that  was  clearing  a  little  after 
rain.  Mingling  with  the  mist  that  rose  from  the  soaked 
earth  he  felt  for  the  first  time  the  stealthy  approach  of 
invisible  things  feeling  their  mysterious  ways  towards  birth 
and  their  little  measure  of  the  spring.  From  the  delicate 
tassels  fringing  the  ferns  by  the  river  up  to  the  dusted 
fresh  green  of  the  kauri  saplings  on  the  skyline  another 


THE  STRANGE  ATTRACTION  163 

surge  of  life  was  vibrating  all  about  him  in  the  dusk.  The 
night  was  closing  down  on  an  air  sweetened  with  the  violets 
and  jonquils  and  primroses  that  carpetec  the  shaded  re- 
cesses of  his  garden.  It  was  all  very  lovely.  And  he  felt 
unaccountably  happy  and  unaccountably  sad. 
Then  Lee  called  him  and  he  went  in. 


IV 

Valerie  had  been  deeply  concerned  when  after  a  week's 
absence  Bob  walked  into  the  office  looking  gray  and  ill. 
He  threw  a  packet  of  notes  and  manuscript  on  her  desk 
and  said  he  must  get  to  bed.  It  was  eight  o'clock,  and  she 
begged  him  to  get  the  doctor  as  soon  as  he  got  to  the 
hotel.  But  when  she  got  home  at  eleven,  after  going  over 
his  papers,  she  found  he  had  not  done  anything  for  him- 
self. Alarmed  by  his  appearance  she  had  Michael  hunt 
up  Doc  Steele,  who  had  left  the  house  an  hour  before. 
The  doctor  stayed  by  Bob  most  of  the  night,  and  the  first 
thing  in  the  morning  ordered  his  removal  to  the  hospital. 
He  was  wrapped  out  of  sight  in  rugs  and  run  down  in  one 
of  Mac's  launches.  While  it  was  still  dark  Valerie  went 
to  the  house  of  the  postmaster  and  woke  him.  If  she 
could  get  on  the  line  with  Auckland  at  once  Mrs.  Lorrimer 
might  be  able  to  get  that  day's  boat.  The  official  man- 
aged it  for  her,  and  she  got  the  Bishop's  family  out  of  bed. 

She  tried  to  eat  a  breakfast  that  might  be  adequate  for 
the  day  she  knew  was  ahead  of  her.  She  got  sandwiches 
from  Lizzie  to  take  to  the  office,  foreseeing  that  a  lunch 
time  might  be  merely  a  matter  of  imagination.  It  proved, 
indeed,  to  be  one  of  those  days  when  capricious  circum- 
stances collaborate  to  drive  mortals  mad.  For  some  rea- 
son the  minds  that  decided  the  allotment  of  cables  and 
telegrams  to  little  papers  almost  doubled  her  usual  allow- 


J64     THE  STRANGE  ATTRACTION 

ance.  There  was  a  bad  accident  up  the  line  about  which 
conflicting  accounts  were  received  every  hour.  The  com- 
mittee dropped  '.n  unexpectedly  in  the  morning  to  be  use- 
lessly sympathetic  about  Bob,  and  she  had  to  tell  them  as 
good-humourediy  as  she  could  that  they  had  more  time  to 
think  about  him  than  she  had.  The  printing  press  chose 
the  occasion  to  break  down  in  the  middle  of  the  afternoon 
just  as  the  paper  was  going  on,  and  Valerie  had  to  leave 
the  situation  and  run,  when  she  heard  the  steamer  whistle, 
to  meet  Mrs.  Lorrimer,  who  had  sent  a  telegram  to  say 
she  was  on  the  way.  She  had  to  forget  the  work  while  she 
tried  to  comfort  Bob's  anxious  mother.  She  had  a  buggy 
ready  for  her,  and  explained  as  kindly  as  she  could  why  she 
could  not  possibly  go  on  to  the  hospital  with  her,  seeing 
perfectly  well  that  Mrs.  Lorrimer  did  not  believe  a  word 
she  said.  Back  to  the  office  she  went  to  meet  an  up-river 
man  who  wanted  quotations  on  prices  for  a  large  job.  He 
had  been  sent  by  Townshend.  From  half-past  five  to  half- 
past  six  she  read  the  benumbing  pages  of  a  spring  show 
catalogue.  She  hurried  home,  took  a  hot  bath,  tried  to 
make  her  mind  a  blank  for  a  quarter  of  an  hour,  and  went 
down  to  dinner  feeling  as  if  she  had  been  through  a  war. 
Fortified  by  a  bottle  of  wine  from  Mac,  she  ate  a  re- 
strained meal  and  went  back  to  the  office  to  work  till 
eleven. 

The  second  day  was  an  excellent  likeness  of  the  first, 
except  that  it  was  the  jobbing  machine  that  broke  down 
instead  of  the  printing  press,  and  that,  in  addition,  one  of 
the  girls  was  away  ill.  Again  she  ate  her  lunch  in  the 
office  as  she  edited  the  cables.  And  the  rushed  day  was 
coloured  throughout  by  the  news  that  Bob  had  a  tempera- 
ture of  104<  and  was  at  death's  door. 

At  six  o'clock  Valerie  dropped  back  in  her  chair  and 
went  limp.  The  staff  had  gone  and  only  Jimmy  was  to 


THE  STRANGE  ATTRACTION  165 

Some  back  that  night  to  help  her  on  the  catalogue  proofs. 
Somehow  they  had  cleaned  up  the  formidable  pile  of  the 
morning.  Everything  had  got  into  the  paper.  But  what 
was  to  be  done  about  the  leaders  ?  Roger  had  left  her  half 
an  hour  before  saying  they  would  have  to  get  somebody 
from  Auckland.  She  had  resented  that  idea.  She  did 
not  want  a  stranger  there.  Curiously  enough,  though  she 
knew  Dane  was  back,  and  though  a  part  of  her  intensity 
was  due  to  the  fact  that  she  kept  expecting  him  to  appear 
without  warning,  it  never  occurred  to  her  that  he  might  be 
the  way  out. 

She  gave  herself  a  little  more  time  for  dinner  that  night, 
and  found  Jimmy,  as  usual,  waiting  for  her.  They  had 
been  reading  proofs  for  about  an  hour  when  a  noise  in  the 
composing-room  disturbed  them. 

"  Sounds  like  a  rat,  Miss  Carr,"  whispered  Jimmy  ex- 
citedly. He  got  up  and  stole  to  the  composing-room  door. 
They  had  had  two  rat  hunts  in  the  place  that  winter  and 
the  sport  had  proved  absurdly  thrilling. 

"  Yes,  miss,"  hissed  Jimmy  in  a  loud  whisper.  "  A  big 
one;  I  saw  it." 

Valerie  bounded  out  of  her  chair,  forgetting  for  the 
moment  that  Bob  might  die  that  night.  She  darted  after 
Jimmy  and  closed  behind  her  the  composing-room  door. 


V 

Dane  ran  his  launch  into  the  bank  opposite  the  News 
office,  and  anchored  it  in  the  fringe  of  rushes  where  he 
could  step  out  a  foot  or  two  from  the  path.  He  swung 
across  the  street,  tapped  on  the  door,  opened  it  and  went 
in.  Over  the  counter  he  saw  Valerie's  hat  and  coat  hung 
on  a  corner  nail.  But  he  could  see  nobody.  Then  he 
heard  the  extraordinary  sounds  that  were  proceeding  from 


THE  STRANGE  ATTRACTION 

behind  the  closed  door.  He  listened  in  a  startled  amaze- 
ment. His  first  thought  was  that  somebody  was  being 
murdered. 

"  Now's  your  chance !  Get  him !  Oh,  golly,  missed  him ! 
Now  here !  There  you  are !  Oh  crums !  Look  out !  He's 
getting  fierce !  "  These  words  were  hurled  about  in  tones 
of  bloodthirsty  fury  by  a  hoarse  voice  he  did  not  know, 
and  then  came  shouts  from  Valerie.  "  Go  it,  Jimmy.  Oh, 
you  idiot !  That  was  easy." 

Dane  could  curb  his  curiosity  no  longer.  He  opened 
the  door  and  looked  through.  An  amazing  spectacle  met 
his  eyes.  The  composing-room  was  in  wild  disarray. 
Sacks  and  furniture  and  packages  had  been  pulled  away 
from  the  walls,  and  there  was  litter  everywhere.  He  could 
see  Valerie  on  her  hands  and  knees  with  her  back  turned  to 
him  waving  a  dangerous  rod  of  iron,  part  of  the  make-up 
frame,  to  be  exact. 

"  Here  you !  "  roared  Jimmy,  who  did  not  at  the  moment 
recognize  him,  and  who  was  beside  himself  with  excitement. 
"Shut  the  door!" 

Dane  shut  it  instantly,  sliding  through  it  like  a  shadow. 
Then  he  saw  the  rat  dart  squealing  in  his  direction. 
"  Here.  This  way,"  he  called,  momentarily  caught  him- 
self by  the  fight,  as  he  stamped  to  turn  it  back. 

At  the  sound  of  his  voice  Valerie  swung  round  and  leapt 
to  her  feet,  and  for  a  moment  she  stood  almost  transfixed 
at  the  sight  of  him,  while  Jimmy  made  a  lunge  downwards 
at  the  hunted  beast.  Dane  stood  against  the  door,  almost 
enveloped  in  a  gray  ulster,  a  tweed  cap  in  one  hand.  He 
smiled  engagingly  at  Valerie  across  the  body  of  Jimmy, 
who  was  sprawling  on  the  floor  after  losing  his  balance  in 
a  resultless  plunge. 

As  for  her,  she  stood  like  Diana  flushed  with  the  lust  of 
the  chase,  her  eyes  brilliant,  her  hair  tumbling  down.  The 


THE  STRANGE  ATTRACTION  167 

plain  dress  of  warm  blue  woollen  stuff  she  wore  set  off  the 
life  and  colour  in  her  head.  It  struck  Dane  with  the  force 
of  a  revelation  that  she  was  wonderful,  and  that,  more 
wonderful  still,  she  cared  for  him. 

Trying  to  cover  her  first  confusion,  she  ran  to  him, 
holding  out  her  hand.  She  remembered  that  Jimmy's 
sharp  eyes  would  be  upon  them. 

"  It's  a  rat.     Do  wait  till  we  get  it,"  she  said  excitedly. 

He  made  a  face.     "  You're  going  to  kill  it  ?  " 

They  both  spoke  as  if  they  had  seen  each  other  the  day 
before. 

"  Oh,  yes,  a  rat,  yes." 

Seeing  it  run  across  the  room  she  darted  from  him. 
Just  for  a  minute  he  was  annoyed  that  after  his  absence 
he  should  be  ignored  for  a  rat.  Then  watching  her  he  was 
amused.  He  heard  Jimmy  yell  as  the  beast  turned  on  her. 
It  sprang  onto  her  shoulders  and  ran  down  her  back.  But 
she  made  no  sound.  She  turned  with  an  extraordinarily 
swift  spin  and,  catching  it  wavering,  despatched  it  with  a 
deadly  blow. 

Jimmy  leapt  into  the  air  with  a  shout,  and  then  gazed 
at  Valerie  with  adoration.  A  girl  who  was  not  afraid  of 
a  rat — he  nearly  burst  as  he  thought  of  it.  But  she  was 
looking  at  the  dead  beast  and  at  the  trickle  of  blood  that 
came  from  its  crushed  head.  And  she  knew  that  Dane 
was  looking  down  at  her. 

She  got  slowly  to  her  feet,  and  ignoring  Dane  for  the 
moment,  looked  round  the  room  as  Jimmy  picked  up  the 
body  of  the  rat. 

"  I'll  clean  it  up,  Miss  Carr,"  said  the  boy,  divining  her 
thoughts. 

"  Well,  I  guess  it  will  have  to  be  done,  Jimmy,"  she 
smiled,  and  then  she  turned  and  walked  to  the  door  where 
Dane  still  stood  with  his  eyes  on  her. 


168     THE  STRANGE  ATTRACTION 

A  fresh  flush  burned  her  face  as  her  eyes  met  his  and 
fell  before  them. 

"  I  know  I'm  ridiculous,"  she  began,  a  little  nervously, 
"  but  you  know,  I  just  needed  that.  We've  had  two  wild 
days,  and  I  had  to  have  something." 

He  opened  the  door,  and  she  went  through  holding  up 
her  hair.  She  dropped  into  her  chair  and  swung  it  round, 
and  without  any  apology  let  down  the  dishevelled  gold 
about  her  head,  and  then  firmly  wound  and  pinned  the 
coils  up  again,  talking  as  she  did  so. 

"  How  are  you?  "  she  began. 

"  Very  well,  I  think,  thank  you."  He  leaned  against 
the  high  counter  opposite  her. 

She  thought  he  looked  better  than  she  had  ever  seen  him. 
At  least  he  had  not  spent  his  winter  in  dissipation,  as  she 
had  feared  he  might  have  done. 

"  It  was  nice  of  you  to  write  to  me,  tut  it  was  very  rude 
of  you  to  go  off  like  that  without  letting  me  know."  As 
she  was  not  looking  at  him  she  did  not  see  the  flash  that 
went  across  his  eyes  as  she  said  that. 

"  I'm  sorry  I  was  rude,"  he  said  repentantly 

"  You're  not  a  bit  sorry,"  she  retorted  pertly.  "  Did 
you  get  my  letter  ?  " 

"  I  did,  thank  you." 

She  had  finished  pinning  her  hair.  She  felt  hot  and 
confused.  He  had  evidently  come  in  to  say  something, 
and  was  waiting  for  Jimmy  to  get  out. 

*'  Won't  you  take  off  your  coat?  " 

It  seemed  to  her  that  he  emerged  out  of  it  like  a  radiant 
fcreature  out  of  a  utilitarian  chrysalis.  She  felt  the  beauty 
of  his  head  again  as  if  she  were  seeing  it  for  the  first  time. 

He  was  more  warmly  dressed  than  she  had  ever  seen  him 
in  a  square-cut  suit  of  dark  blue  cloth,  with  a  vest  over 
the  white  silk  shirt,  and  a  very  calm  gray-blue  tie.  His 


THE  STRANGE  ATTRACTION  169 

shoes  were  heavier  than  usual.  She  caught  a  whiff  of 
some  delicate  scent,  as  if  his  clothes  were  kept  with  it. 

He  perched  up  on  the  high  stool  and  looked  down  on 
her. 

"  May  I  smoke?  " 

"  Of  course."  Then  for  the  first  time  since  he  had  come 
in  she  thought  of  Bob.  "  Have  you  heard  about  Mr.  Lor- 
rimer?  "  Her  voice  and  mood  changed  as  she  asked  it. 

"  Yes.     How  is  he  to-day?  "     His  face  sobered  too. 

"  Oh,  very  ill,  I'm  afraid.  Heavens !  I  was  forgetting 
all  about  him.  Doc  Steele  is  there  with  him  now.  He 
may  not  live  through  the  night."  She  was  ashamed  to 
think  how  completely  she  had  forgotten  her  old  friend  Bob 
in  the  last  half  hour,  and  determined  now  to  be  more  loyal 
in  her  mind. 

Dane  felt  the  change  in  her  at  once  and  divined  the  rea- 
son for  it,  and  he  told  himself  this  was  no  time  to  put  any 
emotional  pressure  upon  her,  and  that  he  must  discipline 
himself  till  this  tension  was  over. 

"  I  did  not  realize  he  was  as  ill  as  that,  Miss  Carr. 
I'm  very  sorry.  Benton  dropped  in  and  told  me  on  his 
way  home  that  he  had  been  taken  to  the  hospital." 

"Oh,  did  he?"  And  the  possibility  dawned  on  her 
mind. 

'^  Yes,"  he  went  on,  without  looking  at  her.  "  He  asked 
me  if  I  would  do  the  leaders  and  political  stuff  for  the 
News  till  Lorrimer  was  better." 

She  said  nothing  for  a  minute,  but  he  felt  her  sudden 
quickening  to  life.  "  What  did  you  say  ?  " 

"  I  said  I  would."  Again  he  did  not  look  at  her.  He 
did  not  need  to. 

"  You  did !    You  would  work  for  this  little  paper  ?  " 

"Why  not?  It  has  just  as  much  power  as  any  other, 
paper  for  getting  a  man  in." 


170  THE  STRANGE  ATTRACTION 

She  was  about  to  speak  when  Jimmy  came  through  the 
door.  Shooting  an  unfriendly  glance  at  Dane  he  walked 
up  to  Valerie  with  a  comical  air  of  possession  and  sat 
down  in  the  chair  beside  her.  She  looked  at  him.  "  Oh, 
the  proofs,  Jimmy?  Well,  we  were  nearly  through  them. 
We  will  finish  them  in  the  morning.  You  go  now." 

Jimmy  understood  perfectly  that  he  was  being  dis- 
missed, and  he  was  resentful  against  the  man  who  had 
come  in.  He  knew  who  he  was,  and  he  had  overheard 
Bob  say  he  did  not  want  him  to  have  anything  to  do  with 
the  office.  It  disturbed  him  Ihat  Valerie  should  let  him 
stay  there,  especially  with  Bob  ill  in  the  hospital.  She 
saw  he  was  put  out. 

"  Thanks  for  what  you've  done,  Jimmy.  Mr.  Benton 
has  sent  Mr.  Barrington  in  to  see  about  helping  us  out, 
so  I  won't  read  any  more  proofs  to-night.  Go  on  home." 

That  made  the  boy  feel  a  little  better.  He  took  up  his 
cap  and  went  out  saying  good-night  to  her.  Then  she 
saw  him  peeping  through  the  window.  She  waved  him 
away  and  they  both  heard  his  steps  going  off. 

Dane's  eyes  were  fixed  steadily  on  her  again,  and  they 
compelled  her  to  look  up  at  him.  "  Hero  worship  ?  "  he 
smiled,  nodding  his  head  in  the  direction  of  the  departing 
Jimmy. 

"  As  you  see,  and  a  bad  case.  I  have  to  be  careful  of 
him.  They  are  so  confused  and  so  sensitive  at  that 

age "  She  stopped  for  he  had  slipped  off  the  stool 

and  was  standing  in  front  of  her,  and  something  about  him 
lifted  her  to  her  feet. 

"  We  never  get  over  it,  Valerie  dear,"  he  said,  very 
softly. 

He  felt  her  tremble  and  then  make  a  desperate  effort  to 
stand  still,  and  the  shadow  of  the  dying  Bob  fell  between 
them. 


THE  STRANGE  ATTRACTION  171 

"  I'm  sorry.  I  forgot.  I  looked  at  you  and  forgot.  I 
will  be  good.  But  tell  me  one  thing.  You  won't  expect 
me  to  be  good  for  very  long,  will  you?  " 

She  looked  at  him  and  her  eyes  answered,  and  forget- 
ting Bob  and  the  window  and  the  peep-hole  their  arms 
swept  about  each  other.  But  because  he  was  far  more 
sensitive  than  she,  and  possibly  because  he  had  drunk  deep 
from  cups  she  had  but  touched  the  edges  of,  he  drew 
away  from  her  lips  after  a  few  fierce  possessive  kisses, 
seeing  that  if  he  went  on  he  would  submerge  her  more 
deeply  than  he  had  any  intention  of  doing  that  night. 
For  him  the  office  was  no  fit  setting  for  abandonment  to  her. 

They  stood  for  a  moment  shaken  by  that  unleashing 
of  the  forces  they  had  been  trying  to  hold  back,  and  some- 
thing in  the  very  violence  of  their  relaxation  startled  them 
into  self-discipline.  Valerie  dropped  down  into  her  chair 
breathing  hard  and  trying  to  remember  Bob,  the  work,  the 
next  morning. 

Dane  stood  still  for  a  minute  amazed  that  he  had  let 
the  situation  run  away  from  him  in  this  manner.  He  had 
not  come  to  the  office  with  the  remotest  intention  of  kiss- 
ing her.  And  here  they  were,  for  he  had  seen  in  her  eyes 
the  enchantment  that  he  could  never  resist. 

He  sat  down  in  the  chair  beside  her  and  took  her  hands. 
She  misunderstood  his  intention. 

"  Oh,  please,  we  can't  really.  You  don't  know  what 
this  work  is.  And  I  must  do  it.  I  have  no  time  to  play 
till  it  is  over."  She  spoke  as  if  she  were  afraid  of  him, 
but  she  was  just  as  afraid  of  herself. 

He  dropped  her  hands,  feeling  the  intensity  that  was 
burning  her. 

"  Please  don't  be  afraid  of  me,"  he  pleaded  softly. 
"  I'm  sorry  I  let  go  like  that.  I  won't  do  it  again  till  you 
wish  it.  I  promise." 


172  THE  STRANGE  ATTRACTION 

He  sat  very  still  wondering  how  the  clevil  they  were  to 
go  on  without  explosions  now  that  they  had  put  the  spark 
to  the  powder.  He  had  a  fierce  craving  to  carry  her  out 
to  the  launch  and  take  her  home  with  him. 

Presently  her  eyes  fell  on  the  neglected  proofs.  They 
stimulated  her  to  come  back  to  earth  and  the  compelling 
present. 

"  You  must  go,  please.  I  have  an  hour's  work  at  least, 
and  it  cannot  wait  till  the  morning.  I  should  have  let 
Jimmy  stay." 

"  I'm  Jimmy  for  the  rest  of  the  evening.  Yes,  come  on, 
dear.  I'll  read  them  with  you.  No,  you  must  not  look 
at  me  like  that.  I  can't  stand  it.  What  the  devil  do 
you  think  a  man  is?  If  I'm  to  stay  good  you've  got  to 
be  an  angel  too." 

And  then  Valerie  laughed. 

And  never  in  the  history  of  spring  show  catalogues 
were  dull  pages  of  entries  for  sheep  and  cattle,  and  dairy 
produce  and  vegetables,  and  home-made  cakes  and  jams 
and  fancy-work  treated  with  such  alternate  absorption  and 
indifference  as  they  were  in  the  office  of  the  News  that 
night.  And  it  must  be  confessed  that  the  resolutions  with 
which  they  began  the  proof-reading  suffered  considerably 
from  lack  of  nourishment  in  the  following  hour.  But  with 
each  pause,  with  each  kiss,  with  each  wondering  gaze  eye 
to  eye  they  grew  gayer,  and  laughed  more  at  themselves 
and  each  other.  Without  putting  it  into  words  they  took 
this  evening  as  they  felt  it  knowing  they  would  come  to 
sober  ways  upon  the  morrow. 

It  was  nearly  eleven  when  they  finished  the  proofs. 
Valerie  looked  at  her  watch,  and  thought  again  of  Bob, 
and  wondered  with  a  little  catch  at  her  breath  if  he  were 
still  upon  the  earth.  And  she  had  a  sudden  revulsion  of 
feeling  against  the  mad  happiness  of  the  last  hour. 


THE  STRANGE  ATTRACTION  173 

**  What  is  it?  "  asked  Dane. 

But  she  did  not  wish  to  put  any  shades  on  his  face,  or 
bring  any  pain  back  to  his  eyes. 

"  I  must  get  home,  dear.    I  have  to  be  here  at  eight." 

"Eight!" 

"  Oh  yes,  eight,  every  morning  now.  You  see  ?  "  She 
shook  her  head  decidedly  at  him. 

"  I  see."  He  helped  her  on  with  her  coat,  and  then 
before  she  put  on  her  hat  he  drew  her  to  him  and  looked 
into  her  face.  She  could  not  keep  her  eyes  open  against 
that  frightening  clutch.  What  did  this  man  expect  of 
her,  want  of  her,  when  he  looked  at  her  like  that?  Then 
she  felt  her  lips  being  very  delicately  pressed. 

"  You  don't  know  when  I  first  kissed  you,"  he  said 
softly. 

She  opened  her  eyes  widely  upon  him.  "  I  certainly 
do.  That  morning  when  you  came  into  my  room?  " 

"  Oh,  no.  Before  that."  He  smiled  at  the  expression 
on  her  face. 

"  I  kissed  you  the  night  before  as  you  lay  unconscious 
in  the  office  yard." 

"  Why,  you  preposterous  perfidious  villain,"  she  said 
delightedly. 

"  I  couldn't  help  it." 

She  tried  to  frown  at  him,  but  she  could  not. 

After  they  had  kissed  each  other  again  she  put  out 
the  light  and  they  went  to  the  door.  Hearing  no  one  about 
she  walked  to  the  river's  edge  and  stood  there  while  he 
went  off  and  disappeared  in  the  shadows. 


CHAPTER  XI 


HE  looks  fine  to-day,"  said  Jimmy  proudly,  as  he 
spread  on  the  desk  in  front  of  Valerie  the  first 
copy  of  the  inside  sheet  of  the  News  to  come  off 
the  machine.  He  always  made  the  most  of  this  little  cere- 
mony and  it  never  became  any  less  important  to  him.  It 
was  now  his  job,  after  Ryder  had  hammered  the  last 
wedge  into  the  make-up  frame,  to  start  the  mysterious 
business  that  sucked  in  the  sheets  of  paper,  already  printed 
on  one  side,  and  turned  them  over  on  the  other  ready  to 
be  folded.  He  made  a  fine  art  of  grabbing  the  first  one 
over,  doubling  it  for  rapid  inspection,  rushing  with  it  into 
the  office  and  spreading  it  out  with  a  flourish.  Then  he 
stood  by  as  if  the  whole  world  were  waiting,  while  Valerie 
hunted  for  the  kind  of  mistake  that  might  halt  the  ma- 
chine. That  mistake  was  seldom  found,  but  she  always 
looked  for  it  and  Jimmy  always  stood  as  if  it  were  an 
ominous  probability.  And  with  them  this  afternoon,  fully 
conscious  of  all  there  was  in  the  little  drama,  stood  Dane, 
looking  over  her  shoulder. 

"  By  Jove,  Ryder  got  that  in,"  he  said  admiringly, 
pointing  to  a  paragraph  at  the  bottom  of  a  column. 

"  He  gets  everything  in,"  she  answered. 

At  that  moment  there  came  an  untoward  sound  from 
the  composing-room,  then  a  few  creaks,  and  then  a  sad 
silence. 

Jimmy's  face  set  in  righteous  indignation.  "  Well,  if 
that  isn't  the  dizzy  limit?  "  he  demanded  of  the  air.  "  I 
went  over  that  confisticated  thing  this  morning  and  there 

174 


THE  STRANGE  ATTRACTION  175 

was  nothing  wrong  with  her.  That's  a  machine  for  you !  " 
And  he  dashed  into  the  composing-room. 

Valerie  could  have  laughed  if  it  hadn't  been  so  serious. 
The  boy's  comical  explosions  at  the  old  press,  which  he 
treated  as  if  it  were  a  live  thing,  amused  everybody  in 
the  office.  He  reappeared  almost  immediately  in  the  door- 
way with  a  face  full  of  woe. 

"  It's  the  engine,"  he  announced  tragically.  "  She's  a 
goner  all  right.  It's  all  hands  to  the  crank." 

"  Good  Lord!  "  smiled  Dane,  "  what  does  he  mean?  " 

"  Oh,  darn  it !  The  oil  engine.  It  goes  off  occasionally. 
The  press  will  have  to  be  kept  on  by  hand.  We  won't 
catch  the  train  and  everything  will  be  late." 

They  hurried  into  the  composing-room.  It  had  hap- 
pened on  the  worst  day  that  week.  Both  Ryder  and 
Johnson  were  working  feverishly  on  a  political  circular 
that  Dane  wanted  out  as  soon  as  possible.  The  two  men 
put  down  their  cases  of  type  with  a  resigned  air.  Dane 
looked  at  Valerie. 

"  I  understand  oil  engines,"  he  said.  "  I'll  have  a  go 
at  it  if  you  like." 

"  Oh,  will  you  ?  Thanks."  She  shot  him  as  intent  a 
look  as  she  dared.  Ryder  and  Johnson  turned  to  their 
benches.  Miss  Hands  and  the  girls  at  the  cases  all  stared 
unblushingly  at  Dane  as  he  walked  to  the  engine  at  the 
back  of  the  room,  for  this  was  the  first  time  he  had  ap- 
peared there  in  the  broad  light  of  day.  Jimmy,  who  had 
thought  his  white  hands  meant  helplessness,  gave  him  one 
glance  of  grudging  admiration  before  going  for  his  run- 
ners to  help  to  turn  the  crank. 

Dane  pulled  off  his  coat,  spread  a  sheet  of  brown  paper 
on  the  floor,  and  oblivious  of  the  flutter  he  had  brought  to 
the  chaste  breast  of  Miss  Hands,  began  to  investigate  the 
refractory  machine. 


176  THE  STRANGE  ATTRACTION 

Valerie  returned  into  the  front  office,  dropped  into  her 
chair,  and  leaned  back  for  a  moment's  respite  before  at- 
tacking a  pile  of  stuff  on  her  desk.  She  was  idly  wishing 
that  life  could  go  on  forever  as  it  had  the  last  two  weeks 
when  she  heard  familiar  voices  at  the  door.  She  swung 
round  in  her  chair  to  see  her  father  and  Bishop  Lorrimer 
smiling  across  the  counter. 

"  Why,  dad!  "  She  bounded  to  her  feet.  "  You  might 
have  let  me  know  you  were  coming." 

"  How  are  you,  Dick,  old  girl?  I  decided  only  late 
last  night  that  I'd  come  along  with  the  Bishop  and  have 
a  look  at  you." 

Davenport  Carr  was  a  tall  and  handsome  man  with  an 
imposing  arrogant  head  and  dissipated  face  set  on  a  self- 
indulgent  neck.  He  looked  what  Valerie  had  long  called 
him,  a  tired  hedonist.  He  had  the  manner  of  a  man  used 
to  seeing  the  multitude  tumble  over  itself  to  get  out  of  his 
way.  But  he  was  a  humane  and  good-humoured  despot  for 
all  that.  He  had  rarely  found  it  necessary  to  show  such 
fangs  as  he  possessed.  After  all  most  people  were  just  as 
ready  to  serve  him  as  he  was  ready  that  they  should.  He 
was  perfectly  dressed  in  travelling  tweeds,  and  rather 
dwarfed  the  importance  of  the  smaller  man  in  black  be- 
side him.  Bishop  Lorrimer  was  of  the  ruddy-faced  cheer- 
ful kind  of  clerical,  who  has  an  inextinguishable  faith  in 
the  magic  of  bishop's  blood  and  the  sacraments,  and  an 
equally  inextinguishable  faith  in  the  rights  of  birth  and 
privilege. 

Davenport  Carr's  amused  blue  eyes  roamed  round 
the  office.  <?  I  suppose  you're  damned  proud  of  this, 
Dick?" 

"  You  bet  I  am.  Want  to  see  it  all  ?  "  For  the  moment 
she  forgot  Dane  was  on  his  knees  beside  the  oil  engine. 

"  Rather,  if  we've  time."     He  looked  at  the  Bishop. 


THE  STRANGE  ATTRACTION  177 

"  We've  ordered  a  buggy  to  pick  us  up  here  in  a  few  min- 
utes to  take  us  on  to  the  hospital." 

"  Nothing  here  yet,"  she  said,  looking  out  over  the  top 
of  the  whiting  on  the  window.  "  You've  come  at  a  dis- 
tressing moment,"  she  went  on  lightly.  "  The  oil  engine 
has  broken  down."  She  thought  of  Dane,  and  hoped  he 
would  not  be  cross  at  having  to  meet  her  father  in  his 
shirt  sleeves.  She  led  the  way  into  the  composing-room 
where  everybody  was  going  at  top  speed,  and  the  runners, 
two  at  a  time,  working  the  printing  press  crank.  There 
was  no  sign  of  Dane.  He  was  down  on  his  knees  on  the 
ifar  side  of  the  oil  engine. 

Valerie  led  her  visitors  up  to  Ryder  and  Johnson  and 
introduced  them.  Davenport  Carr  had  caught  something 
of  the  spirit  of  that  humming  workroom.  He  had  heard 
from  Roger  too  of  the  Townshend  job.  And  then  he  had 
more  money  than  anyone  else  in  this  business. 

"  You're  doing  tip-top  work  here,  I  believe,"  he  said 
with  genuine  appreciation.  "  Does  she  allow  you  any  time 
to  smoke?  "  And  with  a  quizzical  look  at  his  daughter  he 
handed  his  cigar  case  to  the  men. 

"  Thanks,  sir.  Yes,  she  does,"  said  Ryder  warmly,  for 
it  was  Valerie  who  had  insisted  on  a  ten-minutes'  spell  in 
the  morning  and  in  the  afternoon. 

The  visitors  turned  to  the  printing  press,  slowly  and 
laboriously  grinding  out  the  papers.  Just  then  Daven- 
port Carr  caught  sight  of  the  figure,  that,  unaware  of 
their  presence,  had  crawled  round  the  oil  engine  at  the 
other  end  of  the  room. 

"  What  the  deuce,"  he  began,  and  looked  at  Valerie 
who  shot  a  mischievous  glance  back  at  him.  He  hesitated 
for  a  moment  and  then  walked  off.  She  followed  with  the 
Bishop. 

Dane  looked  up  as  he  felt  the  big  form  approaching, 


THE  STRANGE  ATTRACTION 

and  Valerie  was  delighted  to  see  that  he  was  not  in  the 
least  upset. 

"  Well,  upon  my  soul,  Barrington,  what  are  you  doing 
there?  " 

Dane's  hands  were  black  and  there  was  a  streak  of 
grease  where  he  had  flipped  a  fly  off  his  nose.  But  he 
was  simple  and  self-possessed  as  he  looked  up  at  Valerie's 
father,  and  not  disturbed  by  the  question  he  thought  he 
saw  in  his  eyes. 

"  I'm  the  engineman  at  present,"  he  said.  Then  he 
scrambled  to  his  feet  and  bowed  gravely  without  speaking 
as  Valerie  introduced  him  to  the  Bishop,  who  had  never 
met  him. 

"  I've  got  at  the  trouble,  I  think,  Miss  Carr.  I'll  have 
her  going  in  less  than  ten  minutes." 

Valerie  had  not  written  of  any  change  in  the  office,  and 
it  happened  that  her  father  had  not  heard  of  any,  but 
Dane  wondered  at  once  if  he  had  come  up  because  he  had, 
and  saw  by  his  next  words  he  had  not. 

"  How  do  you  come  to  be  here,  anyway?  "  Davenport 
Carr  asked  it  very  lightly,  as  if  it  did  not  matter  in  the 
least. 

"  I'm  writing  the  leaders  till  Lorrimer  comes  back." 

"  Oh,  are  you  ?  Will  you  dine  with  us  at  Mac's  ?  I'm 
going  to  the  hospital  first  with  the  Bishop,  but  I  will  be 
back  by  seven." 

"  Thanks,  I  will." 

Jimmy  came  up  to  Valerie  and  told  her  that  a  buggy 
had  stopped  in  the  front.  Nodding  pleasantly  to  the  staff 
Davenport  Carr  led  the  way  to  the  office. 

II 

Dane  was  waiting  down-stairs  in  the  hotel  when  Michael 


THE  STRANGE  ATTRACTION  179 

told  him  Valerie's  father  was  back.  He  had  had  but  a' 
few  minutes  to  reflect  upon  the  fact  that  kissing  her  had 
made  an  enormous  difference  to  his  attitude  towards  her 
father.  He  was  now  prepared  to  resent  any  probing,  covert 
or  open,  as  to  his  acquaintance  with  her.  But  Davenport 
Carr  was  far  too  clever  to  show  his  hand  to  a  man  he 
suspected  of  being  cleverer  than  himself.  And  besides  all 
he  saw  so  far  was  a  situation  and  its  possibilities. 

Dane  led  the  way  to  a  private  room  and  ordered  a 
preliminary  drink.  They  sat  down  opposite  each  other. 

"  You're  looking  deucedly  well,  Barrington." 

"  I've  been  living  a  good  deal  in  the  open  air  this  last 
six  months." 

"  Very  sensible.  What  chance  do  you  think  Benton 
has?" 

"  The  best  any  man  has  ever  had  against  Mobray." 

"  Isn't  there  a  prohibition  man  out?  " 

"  Yes,  but  he  won't  be  in  at  the  finish." 

"  Ah,  can  be  persuaded  to  stand  down,  eh?  " 

"  I  think  so." 

Carr  smiled  across  the  table  at  the  non-committal  white 
face  and  into  the  eyes  that  met  his  with  easy  frankness. 
"  Ah !  how  few  of  us  could  not  be  persuaded  to  stand 
down,  eh,  Barrington?  " 

"  Few  indeed,  I'm  afraid.  And  if  I  were  Benton  it 
isn't  Dodge  that  would  worry  me,  it  is  Townshend." 

"  Ah.     Big  labour  vote  there?  " 

"  The  result  lies  there,  if  it  ever  lies  in  any  one  place 
in  an  election.  But  I'm  going  to  warm  up  Townshend, 
very  carefully,  you  know.  I'll  have  some  leaders  on  the 
pioneer  work  done  for  the  North  by  these  big  employers 
who  came  in  and  battled  against  desperate  odds.  He  had 
quite  a  pull,  I  believe,  and  it  won't  hurt  to  point  it  out. 
It  will  please  him,  and  it  may  help  to  make  him  neutral. 


180  THE  STRANGE  ATTRACTION 

open  his  camps  to  HotK  sides,  and  let  his  men  go  unin- 
fluenced." 

:"  That's  the  idea,  Barrington.  The  silken  touch.  That 
will  look  magnanimous,  too.'* 

"  It  will  have  to  be  very  carefully  done.  These  chaps 
know  well  enough  what  you're  after  these  days  when  you 
'do  any  buttering." 

"  They  may  do.  But  buttering  wins  elections  just  the 
same.  By  the  way,  I  didn't  know  you  were  interested  in 
politics."  Davenport  Carr  said  it  very  carelessly. 

"  That  shows  a  lamentable  lack  of  knowledge  of  some 
of  my  best  work,  Carr,"  smiled  Dane.  *'  However,  as 
it  was  in  Australia,  you  are  pardoned  for  not  being 
familiar  with  it.  But  I've  always  taken  considerable 
interest  in  the  New  Zealand  legislation.  You  forget 
that  I've  been  something  of  an  idealist  for  the  human 
race." 

The  older  man  had  to  smile  at  the  expression  on  the 
younger  one's  face.  And  then  the  personal  charm  that 
emanated  from  Dane,  affecting  men  as  well  as  women, 
began  to  work.  And  Carr  remembered  that  he  was  one 
of  the  best  bridge  players  he  had  ever  met. 

"  What  about  a  game  to-night  ?  "  he  asked. 

Dane  hesitated.  "  Well,  yes,  I'd  like  it.  But  it  would 
have  to  be  late,  Carr.  Would  you  like  to  have  Mac  and 
Doc  Steeleas  well?" 

"  Yes,  all  right." 

Just  then  the  sounds  of  the  piano  drifted  down  to 
them.  Davenport  Carr  thought  he  detected  a  swiftly  re- 
pressed attention  to  it  on  the  part  of  the  other  man.  He 
himself  pretended  not  to  know  who  it  was  who  was  play- 
ing. But  Dane  gave  no  sign.  He  lit  another  cigarette 
and  asked  Carr  how  many  seats  the  Opposition  hoped  to 
win  in  Auckland. 


THE  STRANGE  ATTRACTION  181 

"  Their  hopes  are  a  bit  extravagant,  I  think.  I  believe 
that's  Valerie  at  the  piano,  isn't  it  ?  " 

"  I've  heard  she  plays  well.  I  don't  think  there  is  any- 
one else  about  who  does." 

Davenport  Carr  stood  up.  "  I'll  go  up.  What  time 
do  we  get  dinner,  do  you  know?  " 

"  A  little  late,  I'm  afraid.  Mac  ordered  fresh  chickens 
in  your  honour." 

"  Oh.     Will  you  come  upstairs  ?  " 

"  No,  thanks." 

Valerie  turned  from  the  piano  as  her  father  walked  in. 
"  How  did  you  find  Bob  to-day?  "  she  asked. 

"  Looks  pretty  sick,  poor  chap,  beastly  thin.  But  they 
say  he's  getting  on.  You  haven't  been  often,  Mrs.  Lorri- 
mer  says."  His  keen  eyes  rested  lightly  on  his  daughter 
as  he  said  it. 

Valerie  sprang  up  from  the  piano  stool.  "  Good  Lord, 
dad,  that  woman  drives  me  mad.  What  does  she  think 
I  do  all  day  and  most  of  the  night?  I've  been  along  on 
the  Sundays,  used  the  only  spare  hour  or  two  I  had. 
That's  all  I  could  do.  She  doesn't  know  what  work 
means." 

"  I  suppose  she  doesn't."  Davenport  Carr  settled  him- 
self in  the  most  comfortable  chair  he  could  find  and  looked 
round  the  dingy  sitting-room  with  amused  eyes.  "  Like 
all  this,  Val?" 

"  Rather  awful,  isn't  it?  But  I  don't  look  at  it.  You 
know,  dad,  it's  wonderful  what  you  can  ignore  in  the 
world  if  you  know  how." 

"  Do  you  think  you're  teaching  me  something? "  he 
asked  amiably. 

Her  eyes  twinkled  at  him.  She  enjoyed  the  perfectly 
arrogant  spectacle  he  made  in  his  swagger  tweeds, 
but  she  was  distressed  to  see  that  the  folds  in  his 


182  THE  STRANGE  ATTRACTION 

neck  were  fuller  and  the  pockets  under  his  eyes  more 
spongy. 

"  You  haven't  asked  after  the  family,"  he  said. 

"  Has  anything  of  importance  happened  to  any  of 
.them?  " 

"  Now,  Dick,  old  girl.  It's  time  you  were  getting  tol- 
erant. They're  all  right,  you  know." 

"  Ah,  you're  growing  tired,  dad.  That's  what  is  the 
matter  with  you.  You've  no  more  fight  in  you." 

"  Indeed."  He  looked  curiously  at  her.  "  By  the  way, 
what  do  you  get  to  fight  up  here?  " 

She  laughed.  "  Nothing.  Everybody  loves  me,  and  I 
just  live  for  the  office." 

"Nothing  to  fight?  How  boring  life  must  be.  Are 
you  seeing  much  of  Barrington?  " 

She  had  been  waiting  for  that.  "  What  would  you  call 
much?" 

"  Anything  with  him.     He's  too  damned  fascinating." 

Valerie's  eyes  twinkled  again  at  her  father.  "  And  why 
should  he  not  fascinate  me?  Why  am  I  to  be  deprived  of 
fascination  ?  " 

"  That's  all  right,  old  girl.  But  you  be  careful.  He's 
outside  the  pale  as  far  as  you  are  concerned." 

"  Dad,  you  must  know  you're  a  fool  to  talk  to  me  like 
that.  No  person  is  outside  the  pale  as  far  as  I  am  con- 
cerned until  I  put  him  there  myself.  And  I'm  surprised  at 
you  suggesting  this  thing  to  me  by  talking  against  it. 
Between  you  and  Bob  you'd  have  me  living  with  Dane 
Barrington  in  a  month  if  I  let  you  talk  to  me." 

This  frankness  astonished  her  father  and  threw  him  off 
the  scent. 

"  Of  course  I  admire  his  looks,"  she  went  on  easily, 
"  and  I'm  well  aware  of  his  fascination.  But  looks  and 
fascination  don't  overwhelm  me.  I  want  something  that 


THE  STRANGE  ATTRACTION  183 

you  used  to  care  about  once,  or  you  said  you  did — char- 
acter. And  I  would  never  care  about  any  man  who  hadn't 
it." 

And  Davenport  Carr,  clever  as  he  was,  overlooked  the 
fact  that  they  might  not  be  thinking  the  same  ingredients 
into  that  term. 

He  was  reassured  and  went  down  to  dinner  feeling  that 
Dane  Barrington,  with  his  fine  social  sense,  must  under- 
stand well  enough  the  social  gulf  that  existed  between  a 
man  who  could  not  be  asked  out  to  dinner  and  a  girl  bred 
in  the  select  precincts  of  the  Remuera  set. 

Something  about  that  dinner  party  amused  Valerie 
enormously  and  roused  Dane.  The  spectacle  of  Mac  and 
Davenport  Carr  side  by  side  was  in  itself  subject  for 
comedy.  Each  of  them  was  an  autocrat  in  his  own  fash- 
ion, and  each  of  them  appreciated  the  eminence  of  the 
other  in  his  own  profession,  recognized  his  authority,  and 
would  obey  it  in  his  given  domain.  Mac  was  as  sublimely 
easy  as  his  turned-up  shirt  sleeves  and  split  vest  indicated. 
The  gentleman  never  lived  who  could  overawe  him,  and 
Davenport  Carr,  despising  sycophancy  while  ever  ready 
to  use  it,  thoroughly  enjoyed  the  independence  of  spirit 
that  glared  at  him  out  of  those  hard  blue  eyes.  And  he 
was  amusedly  aware  of  Mac's  great  hairy  arms,  of  his  fat, 
red  hands  cleverly  carving  the  chicken,  of  his  enormous 
head  and  shoulders,  of  his  curious  poise,  and  of  the  con- 
trast he  made  to  Dane  on  the  other  side  of  him. 

Within  a  minute  or  two  after  they  sat  down  Dane  took 
charge  of  the  conversation  by  a  kind  of  divine  right  uni- 
versally acknowledged.  The  sight  of  steaming  chickens 
and  bottles  of  champagne  was  all  that  was  necessary  to 
start  him,  and  after  one  or  two  drinks  he  was  off. 

Valerie  watched  the  responsiveness  grow  Between  him  and 
her  father,  the  one  stimulating  the  other.  And  as  she 


184  THE  STRANGE  ATTRACTION 

patched  she  was  struck  more  than  ever  with  the  funda- 
mental difference  in  their  quality  of  mind  and  spirit.  It 
was  not  till  the  meal  was  nearly  over  that  she  saw  they 
were  drinking  too  much.  They  seemed  to  drink  uncon- 
sciously, glass  after  glass.  Dane  in  particular,  talking 
with  increasing  brilliance,  almost  forgot  to  eat. 

She  became  uncomfortably  aware  of  the  time,  felt  she 
must  get  back  to  the  office,  but  knew  her  father  would  be 
angry  at  a  dinner  party  disrupted.  However,  at  a  quar- 
ter to  nine,  she  fidgeted  and  stood  up. 

"  Awfully  sorry,  dad,  but  I  must  get  back  to  work," 
she  said. 

"What?"  he  exclaimed  irritably.  "You  too?"  He 
looked  at  Dane  who  had  got  at  once  to  his  feet. 

"  Yes,  I  must,  Carr.  I  promised  Johnson  I'd  be  there 
jto  plan  an  inset." 

^  When  will  you  get  Hack?  " 

Dane  hesitated.  Pleasantly  relaxed  though  he  was,  he 
would  have  been  glad  to  end  the  evening  there.  And  he 
was  sorry  that  Valerie  should  hear  of  anything  further. 
But  this  was  the  kind  of  thing  he  did  not  know  how  to  get 
out  of. 

"  Oh,  about  eleven,"  he  said. 

Knowing  her  father,  Valerie  guessed  how  the  night 
would  end,  but  she  crushed  back  a  stab  of  pain,  telling 
herself  she  must  not  anticipate  trouble.  Dane  lit  his  pipe 
when  they  got  out  of  the  hotel,  and  they  went  in  silence 
by  the  river  past  the  station  wharf.  It  was  the  first  time 
they  had  gone  through  the  town  together  for  they  had 
been  very  careful.  As  it  was  dark  and  they  could  hear 
no  one  Dane  drew  her  hand  under  his  arm  after  they  had 
passed  the  wharf.  She  had  drunk  sufficient  champagne 
herself  to  make  her  feel  that  it  was  absurd  to  be  serious 
about  anything. 


THE  STRANGE  ATTRACTION  185 

The  office  was  lit  up  and  Johnson  was  there  when  they 
went  in.  He  and  Dane  worked  till  about  half-past  ten, 
and  then  the  jobbing  man  went  out.  A  few  minutes  later 
Dane  came  into  the  front  office.  Concentration  on  the 
work  had  cleared  his  head.  He  leaned  down  over  Valerie, 
put  his  arms  about  her  and  raised  her  face  and  kissed  it. 
She  jumped  up,  and  threw  her  arms  about  him.  This  was 
the  only  time  when  they  allowed  themselves  any  lapse  of 
their  sternly  disciplined  emotions. 

He  held  her  off  and  looked  at  her. 

"  Valerie,  your  father  is  going  to  be  de'ad  against  us," 
he  said  quietly.  "  Now,  dear,  don't  go  off.  I  know  as 
well  as  you  he  has  no  real  right  to  interfere.  But  he 
thinks  he  has  the  right  of  a  code,  you  know.  And  there's 
a  good  deal  to  be  said  for  it,  and  it  worries  me  a  little." 

"  Dane,  I  insist  that  you  forget  my  father  and  my  set 
and  my  position,  and  remember  me,  just  me  as  I  stand 
here." 

"  That's  what  I'm  doing  now,  dear." 

"  I  wonder.     But  it  is  what  I  am  doing  with  you." 

"  I  wonder,"  he  repeated,  putting  his  head  on  one  side 
and  peering  at  her  in  the  beguiling  way  he  had. 

"  Go  away,"  she  commanded.  "  Go  away  at  once.  I 
have  half  an  hour's  work  yet.  Tell  dad  I've  gone  to  bed. 
He  will  forget  all  about  me  anyway."  Her  tone  shaded 
off  in  regretfulness. 

His  eyes,  considerably  softened,  regarded  her  thought- 
fully, but  he  was  too  pleasantly  relaxed  to  worry  about 
anything.  Kissing  her  once  more  very  lightly  he  went  out. 

Ill 

After  He  ha'd  gone  Valerie  ruthlessly  set  herself  to  the 
remaining  work,  and  at  eleven  o'clock  she  was  finished. 


186  THE  STRANGE  ATTRACTION 

She  locked  up  the  office  and  went  out.  But  she  did  not 
turn  to  the  hotel.  She  knew  she  would  not  get  to  sleep  for 
some  time.  She  walked  a  little  way  beyond  the  station 
and  sat  down  in  a  clump  of  rushes  near  the  river  bank. 

The  two  weeks  that  she  and  Dane  had  worked  together 
on  the  News  had  been  illuminating  for  both  of  them.  She 
had  seen  at  once  after  their  first  evening  of  kissing  each 
other  that  neither  of  them  could  go  on  like  that  and  do 
the  work.  She  had  been  unable  to  sleep  without  a  big 
dose  of  aspirin,  and  she  had  felt  utterly  demoralized  the 
next  day.  In  sheer  self-defence  she  put  it  to  Dane  the 
first  chance  she  had,  and  told  him  that  their  emotions 
must  wait.  She  had  expected  opposition,  but  she  was 
surprised  to  discover  that  he  kept  the  contract  much  more 
f aithfully  than  she  did. 

Dane  had  told  Roger  that  in  addition  to  the  leaders 
and  articles  he  would  help  Valerie  in  the  office  on  publish- 
ing days,  and  that  he  would  get  out  circulars  and  other 
literary  ammunition.  He  astonished  Roger  and  the  com- 
mittee with  ideas.  He  began  to  write  leaders  that  had  a 
fire  and  appeal  no  other  journalist  in  the  country  could 
equal.  For  he  knew  how  to  play  upon  the  emotions  of 
men,  and  he  knew  thoroughly  the  types  with  whom  he  had 
to  deal.  He  had  not  talked  and  drunk  and  sung  with 
these  men  for  nothing. 

And  Valerie,  thinking  about  him  as  she  sat  by  the  river, 
told  herself  that  he  had  shown  qualities  in  those  two  weeks 
that  revealed  him  as  a  man  absurdly  misunderstood,  and 
misunderstood,  of  course,  because  he  himself  had  not  the 
desire  or  the  energy  to  care  about  it.  She  knew  that  more 
than  anyone  she  had  ever  met  he  saw  and  appreciated 
exactly  what  she  accomplished,  mentally  and  spiritually 
and  physically,  in  that  daily  rush;  that  every  time  she 
kept  her  temper  against  odds,  that  every  time  she  set  her- 


THE  STRANGE  ATTRACTION  187 

self  against  giving  way  to  nervous  pressure,  that  every 
time  she  managed  a  difficult  interview,  or  flashed  a  ready 
response  to  some  unexpected  incident,  he  knew  and  esti- 
mated it  as  accomplishment.  And  nothing  in  her  life  had 
so  warmed  her,  had  so  stimulated  and  fired  her  as  that 
understanding. 

And  because  it  so  warmed  her,  because  her  love  for  him 
was  daily  changing  and  enlarging  its  horizons,  she  could 
not  bear  to  think  of  the  cloud  that  she  knew  descended 
at  times  upon  that  spirit.  She  had  gone  through  many 
a  tragic  hour  since  the  day  she  had  first  seen  her  father 
the  worse  for  drink.  But  she  had  become  philosophical 
about  him.  She  knew  well  enough  that  during  the  process 
he  had  died  to  her  as  the  father  of  her  childhood,  and 
had  come  to  light  in  a  new  form  as  the  product  of  per- 
verted idealisms.  And  there  had  come  a  time  when  she 
could  even  look  upon  him  drunk  without  emotion.  But 
she  knew  she  would  never  get  to  that  stage  with  Dane. 
Then  she  told  herself  she  was  being  absurdly  serious  about 
it.  That  after  all,  occasional  excess  need  not  be  allowed 
to  overshadow  their  love  for  each  other.  That  she  simply 
must  not  allow  it  to.  She  had  known  all  along  of  his 
habits.  And  she  was  committed  to  him  now  in  spite  of 
them. 

Unexpectedly  a  peace  descended  upon  her,  as  something 
in  the  spring  night  wrought  its  magic  within  her.  She 
had  worried  herself  into  fevers  many  times  over  the  reason 
for  what  she  saw  about  her.  She  had  put  her  despairing 
Whys  to  the  impotent  stars,  but  she  had  struggled 
through  to  one  dominant  perception,  the  existence  of 
beauty  in  manifold  forms,  and  the  more  she  sought  it,  the 
more  she  let  herself  go  out  to  it,  the  more  she  found  it 
everywhere.  And  she  knew  that  it  was  for  that  that  Dane 
lived  too. 


188  THE  STRANGE  ATTRACTION 

Comforted  she  got  up  and  walked  back  to  the  hotel. 
It  was  nearly  midnight,  but  the  place  was  lit  on  two  of 
the  side  rooms.  She  did  not  try  to  listen  to  see  in  which 
of  them  Dane  might  be.  She  went  straight  to  her  room 
and  wearied  out  soon  fell  asleep. 

She  was  at  the  office  at  eight  in  the  morning.  She  did 
not  know  whether  her  father  had  caught  the  boat  which 
had  left  unusually  early.  She  wondered  if  Dane  would 
appear  that  day  with  the  next  day's  leader  as  he  usually 
did,  so  that  it  could  be  set  ahead  of  the  rush  copy.  But 
she  had  a  premonition  that  he  would  not,  and  arranged 
her  space  accordingly.  She  was  right.  He  did  not  come 
in  till  ten  the  next  morning.  She  was  glad  that  Bolton 
was  there,  having  just  come  in  with  the  news  that  Dodge 
was  not  going  to  stand,  and  that  he  was  in  George  Rhodes' 
office  that  moment  framing  an  announcement  which  he  was 
shortly  to  bring  along. 

She  greeted  Dane  eagerly  with  this  news,  ignoring  his 
sensitive  and  irritable  manner.  He  was  enormously  re- 
lieved. He  had  dreaded  meeting  her.  But  he  saw  no 
judgment  in  her  eyes.  The  moment  passed  and  the  rush 
of  the  day  was  on.  The  incident  of  Davenport  Carr's 
visit  was  ancient  history  to  Valerie  by  night.  But  it  had 
left  one  of  those  little  dents  in  her  mind  which,  being  one 
of  accumulative  experience,  had  more  significance  than 
was  apparent  to  the  naked  eye  when  it  seemed  to  die. 

So  many  things  seem  to  die  and  do  not. 


CHAPTER  XII 


ONE  Friday  night  in  the  third  week  in  September 
Valerie  and  Dane  worked  alone.  The  front  door 
was  open,  and  there  stole  in  to  refresh  the  stuffy 
office  the  soft  fragrance  of  an  irresistible  night.  All  day 
long  Valerie  had  shot  envious  glances  over  the  top  of  the 
whiting  on  the  window  across  the  river  at  the  spreading 
swamp  veiled  with  the  enchantments  of  spring.  And  at 
intervals  Dane  too  had  looked  out  at  the  river  and  the 
swamp,  and  had  thought  of  friendly  little  creeks  he  knew, 
and  plaintive  lagoons  he  knew,  and  pleasant  backwaters 
he  knew,  and  willow-girdled  pools  he  knew  where  he  craved 
to  be  with  Valerie. 

She  leaned  back  in  her  chair  after  she  had  finished 
editing  a  letter  from  a  farmer,  and  thought  of  the  won- 
derful week  they  had  had.  Dane  had  brilliantly  frustrated 
two  moves  on  the  part  of  the  enemy,  had  forestalled  them 
in  another,  and  had  given  George  Rhodes  some  valuable 
hints  to  follow  up.  It  was  now  generally  known  who  it 
was  who  was  conducting  the  lively  campaign  waged  by 
this  youngster  among  journals,  and  every  post  brought 
them  back  comments  on  it.  Dane's  articles  on  the  North 
were  often  copied  in  full,  the  party  heads  were  quoting 
some  of  his  most  pungent  criticisms  of  the  Ward  govern- 
ment, and  altogether  the  eyes  of  their  little  world  were 
upon  them.  This  in  itself  was  pleasantly  thrilling.  But 
it  was  nothing  to  the  wonder  that  was  going  on  inside 
themselves,  gathering  intensity  from  the  curbs  they  put 
upon  it. 

189 


,190  THE  STRANGE  ATTRACTION 

.Valerie  looked  at  Dane's  head  bent  forward  while  his 
pen  raced  to  finish  Monday's  leader.  Her  fingers  ached 
to  play  with  that  seductive  hair.  The  more  or  less  chaste 
good-night  kiss  they  allowed  themselves  was  fast  becoming 
«,  very  miserable  dole  to  hand  out  to  each  other  from  the 
splendours  of  love  they  felt  within  them.  But  Dane  had 
kept  more  steadily  in  mind  even  than  she  had  the  hard 
cold  fact  that  she  had  to  be  at  the  office  at  eight  every 
morning.  And  perhaps  in  the  final  reckoning  of  accounts 
the  little  thoughtfulnesses  will  be  weighed  against  the  big 
sins  and  found  to  have  astonishing  tonnage. 

But  he  had  come  to  feel  that  they  were  missing  their 
legitimate  share  of  the  spring,  and,  determined  that  he 
would  get  her  away  from  the  office  for  a  while  at  the  end 
of  the  week,  he  had  given  her  more  help,  so  that  this  night 
they  were  so  well  ahead  that  there  was  nothing  but  ordi- 
nary routine  for  the  Saturday  morning.  Then,  too,  her 
other  anxiety,  Bob,  was  now,  in  spite  of  one  bad  relapse, 
safely  on  the  road  to  recovery  and  would,  in  another 
week's  time,  be  well  enough  to  go  home  for  a  final  rest 
before  coming  back  to  the  drive  of  the  last  three  weeks. 

As  he  read  over  his  leader  Dane  felt  her  insistent 
scrutiny  of  him  and  swung  round  on  his  chair.  After 
looking  at  her  he  caught  her  hands. 

"  Look  here,  I  can't  be  noble  much  longer,  can  you  ?  " 

"  No  I  can't,"  she  chuckled  delightedly. 

He  looked  at  his  watch.  "  It's  only  ten.  Come  out  on 
the  river  for  a  while." 

"  Oh,  glorious,  I've  been  wanting  that  for  days." 

"  You  haven't  wanted  it  any  more  than  I  have,"  he  said 
softly. 

He  took  the  copy  into  the  composing-room,  turned  out 
the  lights,  and  hatless  they  stood  in  front  of  the  outer 
(door  listening.  Then  seeing  there  was  no  one  about  she 


THE  STRANGE  ATTRACTION  191 

locked  up  and  they  crossed  the  road  to  the  river  bank 
where  he  now  kept  his  launch  when  he  was  working  in  the 
office. 

It  seemed  strange  to  her  that  it  was  the  first  time  she 
had  had  a  chance  to  get  out  on  the  river,  with  him.  She 
noticed  by  the  light  of  the  lantern  he  lit  for  the  bow  that 
the  interior  of  the  boat  was  beautifully  clean,  and  won- 
dered if  he  took  care  of  it  himself.  It  was  built  like  a 
grayhound  and  had  a  forward  cabin  large  enough  for 
two  people  to  sleep  in.  There  were  cushions  and  an  old 
rug  on  the  floor  by  the  stern  seat.  She  sat  down  there 
with  him  and  put  an  arm  round  his  shoulder  and  sat  still. 

To  her  as  to  him  a  boat  was  some  kind  of  sanctuary,  a 
retreat  from  the  world  and  all  its  stupidities,  frets  and 
fevers,  and  something  about  it  calmed  the  excitement  that 
had  begun  to  pound  her  as  they  came  out  of  the  office. 
They  sat  silent  while  he  drove  very  fast,  looking  keenly 
ahead  for  stray  logs  or  the  ends  of  sunken  snags,  for  the 
spring  rains  were  liable  to  bring  down  sinister  things. 
But  it  was  a  clear  night  and  shadows  were  visible  for 
some  distance  in  the  middle  of  the  stream.  Presently  he 
steered  to  the  further  bank  and  went  more  slowly.  They 
made  a  little  breeze  which  was  pleasantly  cool  against 
their  cheeks.  They  passed  solemn  clumps  of  trees  stand- 
ing black  against  the  stars.  They  passed  valleys  belted 
with  strands  of  cobwebby  film.  They  passed  lonely  little 
wharves,  merely  a  few  planks  negligently  attached  to 
wobbly  piles,  where  hopeful  settlers  from  remote  gullies 
came  to  bring  wool  and  potatoes  and  grain,  and  to  get  in 
return  seeds  and  wire  and  kegs  of  nails.  They  passed  the 
sheds  and  camps  of  timbermen,  and  the  mangrove-sheltered 
mouths  of  creeks  beckoning  for  exploration. 

Dane  told  her  tales  of  many  of  these  things  for  he 
knew  and  loved  them  all.  He  kept  on  till  the  lights  about 


192  THE  STRANGE  ATTRACTION 

Te  Koperu  dimly  lit  the  river's  edge  and  then  he  turned 
back  and  ran  till  he  came  to  the  tree  hung  arc  by  his 
own  house.  There  in  the  black  still  water  against  the 
frowning  range  of  bush  he  slowed  down,  and  finally 
stopped  against  the  rocks  at  a  place  where  a  clump  of 
totara  above  hid  the  stars. 

He  drew  up  the  rug  and  wrapped  it  about  them  and 
then  he  drew  Valerie  into  his  arms.  He  felt  her  grow  hot 
and  tense  at  once,  but  he  had  not  set  out  with  the  in- 
tention of  making  love  to  her.  He  was  compounded  of 
strange  vagaries  and  powerful  moods,  and  few  women  had 
ever  been  able  to  impose  sentimentality  upon  him  when  he 
did  not  want  it.  He  liked  to  vision  experience  as  pictures, 
and  he  tried  to  make  life  follow  the  pictures  he  painted 
with  his  imagination.  He  was  not  always  able  to  do  so, 
he  was  fast  coming  to  a  stage  with  Valerie  when  he  would 
not  be  able  to  do  so,  but  this  night  his  mood  was  domi- 
nant. He  held  her  without  attempting  to  kiss  her. 

Then  he  began  to  recite: 

Here,  in  this  little  bay, 

Full  of  tumultuous  life  and  great  repose, 

Where,  twice  a  day, 

The  purposeless,  glad  ocean  comes  and  goes, 

Under  high  cliffs,  and  far  from  the  huge  town, 

I  sit  me  down. 

For  want  of  me  the  world's  course  will  not  fail; 

When  all  its  work  is  done  the  lie  shall  rot; 

The  truth  is  great,  and  shall  prevail, 

When  none  cares  whether  it  prevail  or  not. 

All  the  fever  died  out  of  Valerie.  SHe  was  afraid  to 
move  lest  she  should  break  the  spell  those  lines  had  put 
upon  her.  She  knew  that  in  saying  them  he  had  told 
her  something  significant  about  himself.  And  contrary  to 


THE  STRANGE  ATTRACTION  193 

her  habit  of  mind  with  men  her  fierce  individualism  was 
being  insidiously  undermined.     She  was  following  him. 

His  mood  changing  he  sang  the  refrain  of  a  popular 
French  song : 

Je  sais  que  vous  etes  jolie, 

Que  vos  grands  yeux  pleins  de  douceur 

Ont  charme  tout  mon  coeur, 

Et  que  c'est  pour  la  vie. 

Je  sais  que  c'est  une  folie, 

Que  loin  de  vous  je  devrais 

M'en  aller  a  jamais. 

Je  sais,  je  sais  que  vous  etes  jolie. 

She  loved  the  gay  little  air  which  she  had  never  heard, 
but  because  she  had  sadly  neglected  the  French  she  had 
learned  from  her  governess  she  could  not  make  out  all  the 
sense  of  it. 

"  What's  that  about  folly  and  running  away?  "  she  de- 
manded, raising  her  face. 

But  he  calmly  put  a  hand  over  her  mouth  and  pushed 
her  head  down,  and  then  to  puzzle  her  sang  the  song 
through,  knowing  that  it  would  tease  her. 

When  he  had  finished  she  tried  to  wriggle  up.  But  his 
arms  tightened  about  her. 

"  Tell  me  what  it  said,"  she  demanded  again. 

He  leaned  down  and  began  to  move  his  lips  about  in  her 
hair. 

"  I  will  not  be  suppressed,"  she  said,  trying  to  resist 
him. 

"  All  right,  Miss  Freedom,"  he  said  softly,  suddenly  re- 
leasing his  hold  upon  her,  so  that  she  slipped  back  and 
hit  her  head  against  the  handle  of  the  rudder. 

The  solicitude  Dane  showed  over  that  mishap  was  out 
of  all  proportion  to  its  size,  but  her  appetite  for  solicitude 


194     THE  STRANGE  ATTRACTION 

was  fast  becoming  abnormally  increased,  and  she  did  not 
find  it  over-much.  She  was  only  too  content  to  be  caught 
up  in  his  arms  and  kissed  as  he  began  to  kiss  her  then. 
He  became  dynamically  and  startlingly  alive;  his  grip 
about  her  seemed  to  burn  into  her  flesh.  He  had  changed 
too  quickly  for  her  to  respond  at  once  and  when  her  mood 
rose  to  meet  his  he  had  begun  to  curb  his  own.  He  grew 
still,  and  held  her  lightly. 

She  had  a  queer  sensation  that  she  was  being  disin- 
tegrated by  this  potent  personality  who  was  mesmerizing 
her  into  following  his  moods,  that  she  was  being  used  as  an 
instrument  for  the  play  of  his  mind  and  his  emotion.  And 
the  queerest  thing  about  it  was  that  she  did  not  mind. 

But  the  evening  did  not  proceed  as  she  had  imagined 
it  might.  He  took  out  his  pipe,  and  when  he  struck  the 
match  to  light  it  he  looked  at  his  watch. 

"  It's  eleven,  dear.     I  must  get  you  home." 

Valerie  did  not  want  to  go  home.  She  almost  said  so. 
But  she  sat  up,  and  a  little  chilled,  more  mentally  than 
physically,  drew  the  rug  over  her  knees  while  he  started 
the  engine.  When  he  had  the  Diana  out  in  midstream  he 
put  an  arm  about  her  and  then  appeared  to  forget  her. 
She  wondered  as  they  went  on  how  many  women  had  loved 
him  without  understanding  him  in  the  least.  She  was  be- 
ginning to  see  that  certainly  no  woman  of  the  society  type, 
caught  at  first  by  his  looks,  could  follow  the  meander- 
ings  of  his  moods,  or  be  satisfied  for  long  by  the  capricious- 
ness  of  his  attention.  But  she  saw  him  impersonally  as 
well  as  personally.  She  was  able,  even  while  succumbing 
to  his  looks  and  charm,  to  stand  off  from  him  and  see  him 
for  the  baffling  and  appealing  creature  that  he  was.  She 
was  able  to  see  him  against  his  heredity,  against  his  back- 
ground, his  strengths  set  against  his  own  weaknesses,  his 
accomplishments  against  his  failures. 


THE  STRANGE  ATTRACTION  195 

It  was  not  till  they  were  by  the  borders  of  the  town 
that  he  asked  some  of  those  simple  questions  that  change 
lives.  He  was  going  slowly  along  the  bank  looking  for  a 
good  place  to  land  her. 

"What  have  you  to  do  to-morrow  afternoon,  dear?" 

"  Nothing,  unless  something  very  unexpected  turns  up 
in  the  morning." 

"  Good.    Will  you  come  out  with  me  again?  " 

"  Of  course  I  will." 

"  And  would  you  come  to  my  house  and  play  to  me  and 
have  dinner  with  me?  " 

"  Oh,  I'd  love  to." 


II 

The  minute  they  set  eyes  on  each  other  the  next  after- 
noon they  knew  that  each  had  prepared  for  a  real  party. 

Valerie  wore  a  charming  dress  that  she  had  recently 
had  made  and  sent  up  to  her  from  Auckland  by  a  dress- 
maker who  knew  her  tastes.  It  was  of  a  heavy  blue  silk 
crepe,  a  shade  between  navy  and  indigo  that  deepened  the 
colour  of  her  eyes,  and  it  was  fetchingly  decorated  with 
small  dull  red  buttons.  It  was  of  the  simplest  lines  im- 
aginable and  under  it  her  limbs  moved  freely.  She  wore 
a  little  straw  hat  in  the  same  tones  of  blue  and  red.  It 
was  by  no  means  a  boating  costume,  but  caught  on  the 
dilemma  of  the  river  and  dinner  she  had  compromised  as 
best  she  could. 

Dane  gave  her  a  long  intent  look  as  she  stepped  for- 
ward to  the  bow  of  the  Diana  hidden  in  the  rushes. 

And  she  looked  at  him  in  much  the  same  manner.  He 
was  wearing  white  flannels  with  a  navy  double-breasted 
coat  and  a  yachting  cap,  and  more  glamorous  than  any 
captain  who  ever  before  sailed  a  ship  he  held  out  his  hand 


196  THE  STRANGE  ATTRACTION 

to  her.  Something  had  happened  to  them  both  since  they 
had  parted  soberly  the  night  before. 

"  What  a  charming  dress,  dear.  It  just  occurs  to  me 
that  I  have  never  seen  you  out  of  office  or  riding  clothes." 

"  I  know,"  she  said  regretfully.  "  And  you,  how  stun- 
ning you  look  in  those  things." 

They  stood  in  the  bow  of  the  boat  staring  at  each  other. 
There  were  questions  and  shy  evasions  in  their  eyes.  Then 
because  this  was  no  place  for  romance,  with  the  public 
road  only  a  few  chains  away  and  riders  likely  to  be 
numerous  on  Saturday  afternoon,  he  moved  away  and  set- 
tled a  possum  rug  for  her  to  sit  upon  at  the  stern.  Then 
with  an  oar  he  pushed  the  launch  off  and  soon  he  was 
making  for  the  other  side  of  the  river  to  avoid  boats  that 
might  be  coming  down  to  Dargaville. 

The  world  was  flooded  with  soft  sunshine,  and  every 
rush  and  every  mangrove  bush  and  every  tree  along  the 
bank  proclaimed  the  handiwork  of  spring. 

After  half  an  hour  Dane  turned  in  at  the  narrow  mouth 
of  a  deep  creek  and  in  a  minute  the  river  was  out  of  sight 
behind  mangroves.  They  were  soon  in  a  gully  with  hills 
shooting  up  on  either  side,  a  gully  that  was  pure  beauty 
from  the  tree-ferns  at  the  water's  edge  to  the  sun-tinted 
bush  on  the  skyline.  He  went  more  slowly  as  the  stream 
narrowed,  dodging  stumps  and  logs  and  roots  until  they 
came  round  a  bend  into  an  oval  pool  into  which  the  Diana 
drifted  and  stopped. 

Valerie  drew  herself  up  and  looked  into  that  mirror  of 
shaded  jade.  The  sound  of  a  waterfall  near  explained 
why  it  was  clear  and  jewelled  with  the  greens  of  the  hills. 
She  looked  round  her  and  caught  her  breath.  Holding 
the  last  of  the  afternoon  sun  that  was  finding  its  way  down 
here  was  a  clump  of  rimu,  and  she  knew  why  Dane  had 
brought  her. 


THE  STRANGE  ATTRACTION  197 

The  rimu  is  the  most  fragile  tree  on  earth.  Some  poet 
among  the  gods  more  delicate  and  mystical  than  the  spirits 
about  him  drank  a  nectar  prepared  to  stimulate  imagi- 
nation and  dreamed  this  tree.  It  was  to  be  a  thing  of 
misty  shape,  as  intangible  as  gossamer,  as  variable  as  a 
cloud.  The  gods  worked  with  his  idea  a  long  time,  and 
at  last  they  fashioned  a  magic  thing  of  tasselled  fringes, 
its  rich  green  dusted  to  luminousness  by  a  silver  bloom,  a 
vague  shape  to  sway  with  every  breath  of  wind,  to  change 
with  every  movement  of  a  bird's  wing,  so  restless  and 
mobile  a  tree  that  it  would  drive  an  artist  to  despair  to 
try  to  catch  its  form.  Nothing  but  the  music  of  Debussy 
quivering  upon  violin  strings  could  adequately  suggest  its 
beauty.  And  the  gods  had  placed  it  in  the  fairest  setting 
they  could  find,  in  valleys  of  tropical  prodigality  among 
the  nikau  and  the  tree-ferns,  where  its  cobwebby  loveli- 
ness softened  the  stiff  splendours  of  the  puriri  and  its 
lacy  perfection  humbled  the  arrogance  of  the  kauri,  the 
king  of  the  bush. 

This  was  what  Dane  liked  to  think  as  he  looked  upon 
a  rimu  tree,  and  he  had  brought  Valerie  there  because  he 
knew  of  no  fairer  gift  to  give  her  that  day. 

After  some  minutes  they  turned  to  look  at  each  other. 
Tragedy  would  have  come  into  their  lives  there  and  then 
if  either  had  spoken  a  word.  He  saw  a  quiver  on  her  lips. 
He  drew  her  down  with  him  on  to  the  rug,  and  leaning 
against  the  seat  held  her  close  to  him.  And  so  they  stayed 
making  no  sound  to  offend  the  sensitive  deities  of  that 
enchanted  spot.  Presently  he  began  to  think  of  her  and 
of  the  beauty  of  her  hair,  for  she  had  taken  off  her  hat, 
and  the  sun's  rays  lit  up  her  head  lying  in  the  hollow 
of  his  arm.  And  he  looked  into  her  clear  eyes  so  gener- 
ously set  in  her  flushed  face,  and  he  was  glad  without  any 
thought  of  past  or  future,  for  that  hour  alone. 


198  THE  STRANGE  ATTRACTION 

He  said  to  himself,  like  the  incurable  child  that  he 
that  when  the  sun  left  her  hair  he  would  turn  home. 


Ill 

"  I  seem  to  have  known  you  so  long  that  I  cannot  real- 
ize that  you  have  not  been  here  before." 

They  had  paused  at  the  end  of  the  path  leading  from 
his  steps  into  the  garden.  Valerie  had  clutched  at  his  arm 
with  the  queer  choking  feeling  that  the  day  was  too  much 
for  her.  She  saw  the  gray  house,  low  and  rambling, 
against  its  background  of  garden  and  forest  wall.  She 
saw  honeysuckle  and  ivy  softening  its  corners  and  crawling 
over  its  red  roof.  She  saw  an  enormous  magnolia  tree 
filling  the  air  with  its  exotic  scent,  bushes  of  graceful 
fuchsias,  of  old-fashioned  roses,  of  oleander  and  camellias. 
She  saw  tumbledown  seats  that  Dane  never  sat  upon,  and 
a  stone  bowl  on  a  pedestal  overrun  with  a  rich,  red  ivy 
geranium.  And  everywhere  as  a  carpet  were  violets  and 
narcissi  and  periwinkle  and  primroses.  It  was  a  glori- 
ously untidy  garden.  Grass  grew  upon  the  paths.  Weeds 
flourished  in  many  spots.  There  was  freedom  for  all 
things  there. 

"  I  found  in  dreams  a  place  of  wind  and  flowers 
Full  of  sweet  trees  and  colour  of  glad  grass." 

Then  he  paused  wondering  if  she  knew  the  quotation. 
She  shot,  for  the  first  time  that  day,  a  provocative  look 
at  him. 

"And  the  lady?" 

"  And  now,  I  hope,  the  lady,  *  clothed  like  summer  witK 
sweet  hours,'  "  he  said,  very  softly. 

She  closed  her  eyes  as  she  felt  his  arms  sweeping  about 
Her.  And  it  did  not  seem  in  the  least  absurd  that  they 


THE  STRANGE  ATTRACTION  199 

should  stand  there  in  the  full  sunlight  kissing  each  other 
again.  Nor  did  it  seem  absurd  that  as  they  went  on 
they  should  stop  every  now  and  then,  forget  the  thing  they 
had  been  talking  about,  or  put  down  the  thing  they  had 
taken  up,  and  find  their  lips  pressed  hard  against  each 
other.  They  made  indeed  so  lingering  a  pilgrimage  about 
the  garden  that  the  dusk  came  down  upon  them  while 
they  were  yet  exploring  it. 

Then  he  led  her  round  to  the  verandah.  Valerie  knew 
that  invisible  things  were  closing  in  upon  her  as  she  sat 
down.  Life,  outwardly  so  undisturbed  in  that  beautiful 
old  garden,  was  yet  beating  fiercely  in  the  recesses  of  her 
own  heart.  But  she  was  helpless  to  move,  either  to  re- 
strain or  to  hurry  up  life,  helpless  against  the  mood  of 
the  man  who  gaily  set  her  just  where  he  wanted  her  to  be 
in  a  low  chair,  and  then  went  inside  to  get  the  right  kind 
of  cushion  to  put  at  the  back  of  her  head. 

Then  when  he  had  arranged  her  to  his  satisfaction  he 
got  into  his  hammock  and  looked  at  her. 

With  a  strange  sense  of  unreality  Valerie  felt  someone 
come  up  behind  her.  She  found  a  tea-table  placed  in  front 
of  her,  and  she  forced  herself  to  smile  up  at  Lee,  remem- 
bering their  former  meeting.  But  the  Chinese  boy,  living 
his  life  in  the  present  moment,  without  reference  to  past 
incident  or  future  possibility,  gave  her  but  the  gravest 
How,  arranged  everything  in  the  most  convenient  spot  and 
was  gone. 

Faced  with  the  implements  of  a  feminine  craft  Valerie 
pulled  herself  together. 

-**  I  wish  you  could  know  how  wonderful  it  is  to  me  to 
Have  you  here  pouring  out  the  tea,"  said  Dane. 

She  looked  at  him  helplessly.  "  Do  you  take  sugar  and 
icream?" 

"Yes,  a  little  of  both." 


200  THE  STRANGE  ATTRACTION 

She  leaned  forward  holding  out  his  cup  which  he  was 
just  able  to  reach.  As  they  drank,  the  rooms  beside  them 
were  lit  up,  the  curtains  parted,  and  bands  of  light 
streamed  over  the  verandah. 

Valerie  tried  to  forget  the  man  who  lay  in  the  ham- 
mock looking  at  her.  She  forced  herself  to  ask  questions 
about  the  things  she  had  heard  he  had  willed  to  the  Sydney 
Museum,  tried  to  still  the  rather  sickening  pounding  of 
her  heart.  When  they  had  finished  he  got  out  of  the  ham- 
mock and  led  her  into  the  study  where  the  fire  had  just 
been  lit.  She  looked  round  the  room  knowing  it  was  just 
as  beautiful  as  she  had  expected  it  to  be.  It  did  some- 
thing to  her,  exactly  what  she  could  not  have  told.  Every- 
thing in  it  began  to  run  together. 

"  Will  you  play  to  me  now,  dear?  "  he  asked. 

"  Oh,  I — I  couldn't  play  just  now." 

She  felt  his  eyes  burning  upon  her  face.  She  looked  up 
as  he  caught  her  against  him. 

"  Then  will  you  play  to  me — to-morrow  ?  " 

Her  answer  was  given  to  his  lips. 

And  then  the  world  faded  away  from  Valerie,  and  a 
man's  imperious  face  and  possessive  arms  were  all  there 
was  of  substantial  stuff  left  in  a  great  space.  And  her 
resolutions  and  ambitions  deserted  her  as  if  they  had 
never  been,  and  she  stood  in  her  imaginative  house  of  many 
mansions  with  but  one  certainty,  that  love  was  all  and  the 
world  well  lost  for  it,  and  she  consigned  all  other  con- 
siderations to  the  attic  to  keep  company  with  the  spiders 
and  the  dust. 


CHAPTER  XIII 


"^\  "IT  TELL,  Miss  Freedom,  where  are  you  now?  " 

VA/         "  I  don't  know." 

The  question  had  been  asked  with  a  quiz- 
zical raising  of  the  black  eyebrows  and  had  been  answered 
with  a  comically  pathetic  frowning  of  the  amber  ones. 

It  was  the  following  afternoon,  and  they  lounged  to- 
gether on  a  rug  that  Dane  had  spread  on  a  flat  rock  above 
the  river  at  one  end  of  the  garden.  They  had  been  dozing 
with  their  arms  about  each  other.  She  had  waked  up 
finally  at  the  pressure  of  kisses  on  her  mouth  and  the 
question.  She  had  drawn  herself  up  resting  her  chin  on 
her  knees,  and  was  looking  down  on  the  river. 

"  No  thoughts  at  all  on  freedom  ?  "  teased  Dane. 

"  No  thoughts  about  anything,"  she  answered,  gazing 
into  space  across  the  river. 

He  lit  his  pipe  and  puffed  contentedly,  turning  often  to 
look  at  her,  vividly  conscious  now  of  her  every  movement. 
Fantails  flew  inquisitively  about  them,  and  a  pair  of  wood 
pigeons  courted  each  other  with  a  shameless  lack  of  vocal 
reticence  upon  the  branches  of  a  totara  tree.  The  hum 
of  bees  in  the  garden  behind  them  was  a  drowsy  and  in- 
sistent monotone.  He  felt  wonderfully  relaxed  and  happy. 

Valerie  was  full  of  the  glory  of  this  lifting  of  herself  off 
the  earth.  She  had  never  supposed  that  the  man  existed 
who  could  bring  love  to  her  clothed  with  the  beauty  and 
delicacy  of  some  romantic  dream.  But  wonder  of  won- 
ders this  man  beside  her  had  brought  it  to  her  that  way. 

Dane  envied  her  her  complete  submersion.    He  was  hap- 

201 


202  THE  STRANGE  ATTRACTION 

pier  than  he  had  expected  to  be  again,  and  was  not  dis- 
posed to  question  his  happiness,  but  he  was  less  over- 
whelmed by  it,  much  more  conscious  of  the  world  about 
him,  and  when  the  tea-gong  sounded  he  was  glad  to  hear 
it,  whereas  Valerie  had  forgotten  there  was  a  world  in 
which  tea  was  served. 

He  got  to  his  feet  and  pulled  her  up  to  him. 

"What  is  it?"  she  asked. 

"  Tea,  dear." 

"  Oh!    Are  we  really  on  the  earth?    I  must  wake  up." 

"  Don't.  You  are  very  charming  asleep.  You  remem- 
ber I  fell  from  grace  the  very  first  time  I  saw  you  so." 

She  flashed  a  brilliant  smile  at  him.  "  So  you  did.  It 
was  mean  to  steal  a  march  on  me  like  that." 

They  came  out  upon  the  path  and  hand  in  hand  went 
up  the  verandah  steps. 

It  did  not  surprise  Lee  in  the  least  to  find  them  both 
in  the  hammock.  Valerie  could  not  see  that  any  signal 
passed  between  him  and  Dane.  But  the  boy  stayed  to 
pour  for  them.  With  perceptions  of  his  own  he  had  put 
on  the  tray  valuable  little  vermilion  cups  that  Dane  never 
used  for  himself.  That  was  the  only  sign  he  gave  that  he 
understood  this  was  an  occasion.  He  enquired  solemnly 
of  Valerie  as  to  her  taste  in  sugar  and  cream.  He  handed 
them  their  cups  and  the  biscuit  jar.  He  put  the  table 
beside  the  hammock  and  transferred  smoking  apparatus 
to  it.  Then  he  moved  off  like  a  leaf  going  by  on  the 
wind. 

Dane  looked  after  him  with  huge  appreciation.  "  Per- 
fect, isn't  he  ?  "  he  said. 

"  I  think  they're  both  wonderful.  But  then  everything 
about  you  is.  Where  did  you  get  them  ?  " 

"  I  found  them  in  China  and  arranged  to  have  them 
gome  out  to  me.  I  couldn't  live  without  them  now." 


THE  STRANGE  ATTRACTION  203 

"  How  long  have  you  had  them?  " 

"  Oh,  years,  I  forget  exactly.  I  sent  them  back  once 
Jor  a  while  to  see  their  people  when  I  came  over  here  with 
my  wife.  She  wanted  to  live  in  hotels,  and  they  were  not 
happy." 

"  They  seem  to  be  such  an  astonishing  combination." 

"  Yes,  aren't  they  ?  They  beat  us  Anglo-Saxons  hollow 
"at  that.  You  see  hew  they  run  the  house.  They  do 
menial  labour  as  if  it  were  a  sacrament.  They  spiritualize 
it.  It  never  spoils  their  manners  and  habits.  There  is 
not  a  trace  of  vulgarity  about  them.  I  never  think  of 
them  as  servants.  They  are  presences  to  me,  and  when  I 
want  them  to  be  company  they  are.  They  never  make  a 
noise.  I  rarely  go  into  the  kitchen,  but  when  I  do  it  is 
never  in  a  mess.  They  never  get  irritated.  They  never 
seem  to  be  tired.  They  understand  me  in  some  extraordi- 
nary way.  They  know  how  to  take  care  of  me  when  I 
am  ill.  They  pay  no  attention  to  my  irritation,  my  rest- 
lessness, my  nerves.  They  are  adaptable.  I  think  they 
are  happy  here.  I've  tutored  them  in  English  and  in 
French  and  in  our  money  system.  I've  taught  them  to 
play  chess,  and  most  of  the  time  they  can  beat  me  at  it. 
How  they  find  time  to  have  the  vegetable  garden  they  do 
I  don't  know,  but  a  Chink  of  any  kind  can  make  things 
grow  by  looking  at  them,  I  think.  But  the  thing  that  in- 
terests me  most  is  their  ungetatableness,  if  I  may  make 
so  clumsy  a  word,  their  subtlety.  I  never  know  what  these 
boys  are  thinking  about,  and  sometimes  I  would  give  my 
soul  to  know." 

"Well,  that's  the  Eastern  problem,  isn't  it?  " 

"What?" 

"  That  you  can't  trust  them?  " 

"  My  dear,  you  can  trust  a  cultured  Chinaman  as  yoii 
can  an  Englishman." 


204  THE  STRANGE  ATTRACTION 

"  But  I  mean — in  a  crisis,  with  women,  or  in  a  panic." 

"  Of  course  you  can.  You've  got  in  mind  the  ignorant 
and  superstitious  coolie,  but  what  about  the  ignorant  and 
superstitious  cockney  or  any  other  corresponding  class? 
Both  have  to  be  kept  decent  as  a  last  resort  at  the  nose 
of  a  pistol.  There's  no  difference  there." 

"  And  you  think  there's  no  difference  between  us  and 
them?" 

"  Oh,  I  wouldn't  say  that.  The  Chinese  are  superior  to 
us  in  subtlety,  endurance  and  some  mental  capacities. 
And  they  never  needed  to  have  lawyers  till  we  obtruded 
our  pleasant  casualness  about  debts  upon  them." 

She  laughed.  "  You  may  be  right,  dear.  But  I  should 
be  surer  of  the  Anglo-Saxon  mind  for  all  that." 

"  H'm!  How  much  do  you  think  you  know  about  mind? 
What  does  one  ever  know  about  anybody's  mind?  Some 
of  us  fuss  because  we  don't  know  what  is  going  on  on  the 
other  side  of  the  world.  Why,  the  fact  is  we  don't  know 
what  is  going  on  in  the  same  room  with  us.  Sit  down  at 
Mac's  to  dinner  with  twenty  men,  your  Anglo-Saxon  mind. 
You  don't  know  how  many  of  them  are  heading  for  black 
despair,  or  why,  or  how  many  of  them  kave  the  least  idea 
of  what  they're  after  in  the  world,  or  what  things  really 
matter  to  any  of  them,  and  if  you  knew  them  for  ten  years 
you  might  not  find  out.  You  don't  know  what  goes  on 
inside  any  person." 

Valerie  wriggled  to  a  sitting  position  in  the  hammock. 

"  I've  often  thought  that  about  you.  All  kinds  of 
things  go  on  inside  you  at  the  back  of  those  eyes  of  yours, 
things  I  shall  never  know." 

"  Nothing  that  need  ever  frighten  you,  dear,  really." 
He  put  a  hand  on  one  of  hers. 

"  I  don't  know.  The  despairs  that  people  face  are  often 
more  fearful  to  others  than  to  themselves." 


THE  STRANGE  ATTRACTION  205 

He  gave  her  a  quick  penetrating  look,  and  then  a  whim- 
sical smile  crossed  his  face.  • 

"  Valerie  Carr,  this  is  a  spring  day.  And  I'd  like  an- 
other cup  of  tea."  But  he  thought  of  her  remark  many 
times  in  the  next  week  or  two. 

Valerie  carefully  manoeuvred  herself  out  of  the  ham- 
mock and  sat  down  at  the  tea-table. 

Dane  watched  her,  amused  that  it  should  delight  him 
so  much  to  have  her  raise  the  cream  jug  over  his  cup  and 
watch  him  till  he  nodded  "  enough,"  amused  that  he  should 
find  it  so  important  to  balance  the  hammock  carefully 
while  she  got  back  beside  him,  and  then  so  entertaining 
that  they  should  drink  sip  by  sip  to  each  other,  their 
eyes  shining  across  the  rims  of  those  elegant  red  cups. 

When  Lee  had  taken  the  things  away  Dane  insisted  on 
music.  For  nearly  two  hours  he  lay  listening  to  her, 
thinking  it  a  wonderful  thing  that  life  could  still  make 
dreams  come  true,  and  anticipating  the  time  when  she 
would  be  there  with  him  to  play  to  him  when  he  wanted 
her  to. 

Thinking  of  it  he  could  even  be  philosophical  about  the 
fact  that  he  had  promised  to  have  an  early  dinner  and  to 
run  her  afterwards  in  his  launch  to  the  Aratapu  hospital 
to  see  Bob.  He  knew  she  would  have  preferred  to  stay 
with  him,  but  he  admired  her  all  the  more  because  she  had 
not  wavered  for  an  instant  about  going. 


II 

It  was  the  next  Wednesday  night  before  Valerie  could 
take  an  hour  to  go  out  on  the  river  with  him  again.  She 
had  had  moments  of  regretting  that  they  had  not  waited 
till  the  election  was  over.  And  then  she  told  herself  that 


206  THE  STRANGE  ATTRACTION 

the  strain  of  waiting  would  have  been  worse  than  the  re- 
action from  letting  go. 

Dane  had  run  the  launch  into  a  lagoon  at  one  end  of 
the  big  swamp  opposite  Dargaville  and  they  sat  on  the 
floor  at  the  stern  with  their  arms  about  each  other.  They 
had  been  working  together  all  day  sternly  repressing  all 
signs  of  their  feeling  for  each  other.  And  after  three  long 
days  she  was  very  tired.  He  was  determined  to  relax  and 
rest  her,  but  his  first  words  after  they  settled  had  results 
strangely  remote  from  his  intention. 

"  I  wish  the  darned  thing  were  over,"  he  grumbled. 
"  How  soon  afterwards  can  you  get  away  and  marry 
me?" 

He  felt  her  stiffen  against  him.  She  withdrew  her  arm, 
turned  a  little  and  stared  at  him. 

"  Why,  Dane — you  don't  have  to  ask  me  to  do 
that!" 

There  was  enough  of  a  young  moon  for  them  to  see  the 
startled  questioning  on  each  other's  faces. 

"  Have  to !  "  he  repeated.  "  My  dear  girl,  what  do  you 
mean  by  that  remark?  " 

"  Do  you  mean  that  you  have  meant  marriage — all 
along?  "  She  did  not  know  why  his  look  made  her  flush 
to  the  roots  of  her  hair,  but  it  did. 

"  I  say,  my  child,"  he  said  very  quietly,  "  I  want  to 
know  why  you  have  assumed  I  meant  anything  else." 

"  I — I  don't  know,"  she  said  helplessly. 

"  Oh,  I  know.  You  did  take  some  notice  of  gossip 
after  all,  didn't  you?" 

She  drew  a  deep  breath.     She  was  speechless. 

"  You  haven't  thought  of  marrying  me?  "  he  went  on,  in 
the  same  quiet  way. 

"  No." 

"  I'm  very  sorry."     Something  about  the  crushed  way 


THE  STRANGE  ATTRACTION  207 

he  said  it,  and  the  way  he  moved  just  a  little  from  her, 
snapped  her  control. 

"  Oh,  now  you  don't  understand,"  she  gasped,  and  she 
dropped  her  head  into  her  hands,  and  began  to  sob. 

Dane  pulled  himself  together  and  put  an  arm  about  her 
shoulders.  "  I'm  going  to  understand  before  I'm  a  day 
older.  Stop  crying,  Valerie,  dear.  I  can't  stand  it." 

It  was  the  irritation  in  his  tone  that  helped  her  to  con- 
trol. He  particularly  loathed  seeing  a  woman  cry.  And 
then  he  was  annoyed  with  himself  that  after  all  his  ex- 
perience he  should  be  as  much  at  sea  with  a  woman  as  he 
now  felt  he  was  with  her. 

"Dane,  will  you  be  frank  with  me?  Because  it's  all 
going  to  be  spoiled — awful  if  you're  not." 

"  As  far  as  I  know  how  to  be,  my  dear,  yes." 

"  Why  do  you  wish  to  marry  me  ?  " 

"  Why — why — because  I  care  for  you  in  the  way  I  do, 
Hecause  I  want  you  to  come  and  live  with  me." 

"  You're  not  thinking  of  my  father,  my  family " 

"  What  the  hell  do  you  mean,  Valerie?  "  he  said  with  a 
burst  of  anger  that  startled  himself  and  her.  "Good 
God!  I  thought  you  cared  for  me.  What  is  the  matter 
with  me  that  I  never  can  understand  your  sex?  And  hon- 
estly I  did  think  you  were  above  insult." 

He  sprang  to  his  feet  and  stumbled  along  to  the  bow 
and  stood  there  looking  away  from  her.  He  was  so  hurt 
that  he  was  blind. 

And  Valerie  saw  how  badly  she  had  blundered.  "  Dane, 
will  you  please  come  back  to  me?"  she  called,  struggling 
for  control. 

Because  he  was  above  foolish  temper  he  turned  almost 
at  once  and  went  slowly  back  and  sat  on  the  seat  above 
her.  She  got  up,  and  sitting  very  tensely  with  her  hands 
gripped  about  her  knees,  she  looked  at  him. 


208  THE  STRANGE  ATTRACTION 

"  Please,  Dane,  I  put  that  very  badly.  I  thought  that 
after  the  way  I've  talked  about  marriage  you  knew  I 
didn't  want  to  marry  anybody,  but  that  you  were  afraid 
of  the  trouble  dad  and  the  family  might  make  for  me  if 
you  did  not.  What  I  thought  was  that  you  were  not 
considering  your  own  real  wishes  at  all,  that  you  were 
just  being — well,  conventionally  decent  about  it.  But  I 
see  that  you  never  took  the  things  I've  said  about  mar- 
riage, or  a  career,  or  living  my  own  life  any  more  seriously 
than  anybody  else  has  ever  done.  And  the  trouble  is,  that 
however  mad  I  seem  to  you  and  everybody  else,  I  am  seri- 
ous about  it." 

"  You  can  be  as  serious  as  you  like  about  it,"  he  said. 
"  I  know  well  enough  you're  serious  about  it.  But  marry- 
ing me  will  neither  kill  your  career  nor  stop  }rou  living 
your  own  life." 

She  turned  her  troubled  eyes  full  upon  him. 

"  You  don't  believe  me,"  he  said  harshly. 

"  Please,  Dane,  oh  please,"  her  voice  trembled.  But  as 
he  sat  aloof  and  made  no  move  to  soothe  her  she  con- 
trolled herself. 

"  Will  you  listen  to  me  if  I  talk?  " 

"  Yes,  of  course." 

It  was  a  cold  tone,  hard  to  talk  against.  What  she  had 
said  to  hurt  him  like  that  she  did  not  know.  But  she 
forced  herself  to  go  on. 

"  I  suppose  I'm  morbid  about  freedom.  I  had  to  fight 
so  for  every  bit  of  mine  that  I've  swung  to  the  other  direc- 
tion. And  you  see  I  heard  such  rubbish  talked  about 
ceremonies,  all  kinds  of  ceremonies,  christenings,  confirma- 
tions, weddings,  everybody  confusing  the  form  with  the 
feeling,  or  rather  taking  no  account  of  the  feeling  at  all — 
and  you  see  the  feeling  was  everything  to  me,  and  I  came 
to  throw  all  the  forms  overboard,  all  of  them,  I  despise 


THE  STRANGE  ATTRACTION  209 

them.  And  I  have  made  my  own  ceremonies — I  say  things 
to  mjself,  and  I  try  to  live  by  them.  On  Sunday  night, 
before  I  went  to  sleep,  I  had  my  ceremony  for  you " 

She  found  herself  being  swung  over  into  his  arms,  and 
her  lips  stilled  by  his. 

"  I'm  sorry  I  was  angry,  Valerie  dear." 

"  You  weren't  angry.  You  were  hurt,  and  I  didn't  mean 
to  hurt  you." 

"  I'm  sure  you  didn't." 

He  sat  still  for  some  time,  his  hold  of  her  tense,  but  he 
kept  his  face  away  from  her,  raised  as  if  he  were  keeping  a 
fixed  gaze  upon  a  star  that  twinkled  feebly  above  the 
valley  horizon.  Presently  he  looked  down  at  her. 

"  What  do  you  intend  to  do  with  me,  Valerie?  " 

"  Do  with  you?  " 

"  That  is  what  I  asked." 

She  raised  herself  and  he  released  her  without  pressure. 

"  Why,  Dane,  can't  we  go  on  loving  one  another  ?  " 

"  I  hope  so.     I  don't  know." 

"  You  don't  know?  Then,  Dane,  you  are  thinking  of 
something — of  something  besides  just  us." 

"  We  are  not  on  a  desert  island,  child." 

She  became  belligerent  at  once.  "  Dane,  I  will  not  have 
my  father  or  my  family  or  anybody  dictate  to  me  what  I 
shall  do  or  how  I  shall  live.  I  will  not  have  you  think  of 
them.  And  besides,  do  they  have  to  know?  Aren't  we 
equal  to  keeping  this  to  ourselves?  I  shall  not  tell  a  soul, 
not  a  single  one.  I'm  fond  of  several  women,  but  I  would 
not  trust  one  of  them  to  keep  a  love  secret.  We  can  man- 
age here  perfectly  well.  Nobody  at  Mac's  knows  what  I 
do  or  where  I  go.  I  never  began  by  telling  them.  No- 
body there  will  ever  spy  on  me." 

"  How  long  had  you  thought  of  staying  in  Dargaville?  " 

"  Why — I — when  I  came  I  thought  of  two  years." 


210  THE  STRANGE  ATTRACTION 

"  What  do  you  propose  to  do  with  me  at  the  end  of  that 
time?" 

She  looked  away  from  him  and  did  not  answer. 

"  Did  you  put  anything  about  time  into  your  ceremony 
the  other  night?  " 

She  did  not  answer. 

"  What  did  you  put  into  that  ceremony,  Valerie?  " 

"  I  shan't  teU  you." 

A  smile  spread  over  his  face  and  lit  it  up  as  a  field  of 
golden  grain  lights  up  a  brown  hillside.  She  was  so  glad 
to  see  it  that  she  flung  her  arms  round  him.  But  he  re- 
sponded only  soberly,  and  with  a  very  chaste  kiss,  and  she 
sat  up  again. 

With  a  comical  resigned  air  he  took  out  his  pipe  and 
began  to  smoke.  She  knew  perfectly  well  that  the  ques- 
tion was  not  settled  between  them,  but  she  did  not  know 
what  was  in  his  mind.  She  began  to  smoke  too,  and  they 
were  quiet  for  a  while. 

"  Valerie,  I  want  you  to  think  about  marrying  me,"  he 
said  very  softly,  at  length. 

"  I  can't  avoid  thinking  about  it  now,"  she  answered, 
Hut  her  tone  was  not  as  compliant  as  it  might  have  been. 

"  I  want  to  know  just  one  thing  more  to-night.  Is  it 
anything  about  me  that  you're  afraid  of?"  He  looked 
into  her  face  as  he  said  it. 

"  Why,  I  love  you,  Dane.  I  couldn't  possibly  love  you 
if  I  were  afraid  of  you." 

"  You're  quite  sure  ?     It's  not  personal  at  all  ?  " 

"  No,  it  is  not !  Good  heavens !  What  is  the  matter 
with  this  world  that  nobody  ever  can  believe  that  I  have  a 
principle,  an  idea  I  want  to  live  by!  I'm  not  the  first 
woman  in  the  world  who  didn't  want  to  marry,  and  yet 
everybody  treats  me  as  if  I  were.  I'm  not  the  first  woman 
to  say  I  want  a  career  and  a  lover  instead  of  husband  and 


THE  STRANGE  ATTRACTION  211 

children.  Women  have  been  'acting  that  all  down  the  ages, 
and  yet  I  have  to  scream  and  yell  and  fight  to  make  any- 
one take  any  notice  of  me.  And  you  who  have  been  all 
round  the  world,  I  have  to  shout  it  at  you.  Will  you  un- 
derstand me?  I'm  not  domestic.  I  do  not  want  to  darn 
your  socks.  I  do  not  want  to  put  your  slippers  by  the 
fire.  I  do  not  want  to  put  buttons  on  your  shirts.  I  do 
not  want  children.  I'm  probably  a  horrid  unnatural 
brute,  but  I  did  not  make  myself,  and  I  can't  make  myself 
like  the  women  who  want  to  do  these  things.  I  do  want  to 
love  you.  I  do  want  to  play  the  piano  to  you.  I  do  want 
to  talk  to  you.  I  do  want  to  rest  you.  I  do  want  to  help 
you  to  forget  the  things  in  life  you  don't  like.  And  I  do 
want — I  do  want — to  take — some  of  the  pain  out.  of  your 

eyes "  Her  voice  broke,  and  she  dropped  her  head 

in  her  hands. 

For  some  seconds  the  only  sound  in  the  night  was  that 
of  little  fishes  sporting  around  them  in  the  shallow  water. 

Then  Dane  leaned  towards  her  and  kissed  her  neck  and 
the  back  of  her  bowed  head. 

"  Valerie,  it's  just  because  you  are  what  you  are  that  I 
love  you.  And  we  won't  talk  any  more  to-night." 


Ill 

He  was  sorry  to  see  when  he  walked  into  the  office  on 
Friday  morning  that  she  looked  as  if  she  had  lain  awake 
a  good  deal.  He  had  himself  in  the  meanwhile  made  up 
his  mind  that  all  his  powers  of  persuasion  should  be  used 
to  get  her  to  marry  him.  Though  he  despised  the  mar- 
riage ceremony  as  much  as  she  did  for  the  things  it  was 
used  to  cover  he  had  a  wholesome  respect  for  it  as  a  con- 
venience in  a  crazy  world.  And  he  had  never  had  any  idea 


212  THE  STRANGE  ATTRACTION 

of  carrying  on  a  clandestine  love  affair  with  her  with  the 
danger  he  knew  there  was  of  being  found  out  in  a  small 
place.  And  then  he  wanted  her  in  peace,  he  wanted  her 
with  him.  He  wanted  so  much  more  than  sex  from  her. 

They  greeted  each  other  as  they  always  did  with  imper- 
sonal warmth  and  were  immediately  plunged  into  the  rush 
of  the  day.  It  was  not  till  six  o'clock,  after  the  staff  had 
all  left  that  they  were  alone. 

"  Have  you  to  work  to-night?  "  he  asked. 

"  Yes,  but  only  for  an  hour  and  a  half.  What  about 
you?  " 

"  Oh,  I've  finished  up  with  Johnson.  So  I'm  going 
home.  Shall  you  be  able  to  come  out  on  the  river  to-mor- 
row afternoon?  " 

"  Yes,"  but  she  was  disappointed  that  he  said  nothing 
of  that  evening. 

"  Good.  I'd  like  to  take  you  down  towards  Aoroa. 
Meet  me  by  that  bit  of  bush  half  a  mile  below  Mac's. 
You  know  it?" 

"  Yes,  I  know  it." 

"  All  right.     Be  there  by  three." 

"  Are  you  going  now?  " 

"  Yes,  I'm  going  home.  Good-night."  He  kissed  her 
lightly,  smiled  airily  at  her,  and  saluted  her  as  he  went 
past  the  counter.  She  stood  up  to  watch  him  cross  the 
street  and  get  into  the  Diana  and  go  off  upstream. 

As  she  ate  her  dinner  and  as  she  worked  afterwards  in 
the  office  she  kept  thinking  he  would  come  back.  But  he 
(did  not  come  back. 

They  met  each  other,  however,  gaily  enough  the  next 
day,  and  she  was  delighted  to  find  he  showed  no  inclination 
to  talk  seriously.  As  the  day  was  cool  and  showery  she 
wore  a  tweed  suit  and  carried  a  cloak  as  well,  and  he  had 
on  a  light  oilskin.  The  wind  was  strong  at  times  and  as 


.THE  STRANGE  ATTRACTION  213 

they  ran  into  the  broader  stretches  the  spray  flecked  their 
faces. 

Valerie  drew  the  fresh  air  into  her  lungs  and  felt  re- 
laxed. She  was  interested  in  seeing  a  part  of  the  river 
she  had  not  yet  observed.  With  delight  she  watched  Dane 
who  always  took  a  keen  pleasure  in  getting  what  he  could 
out  of  his  engine,  and  who  loved  this  inanimate  thing  of 
his  that  had  brought  him  so  much  enjoyment.  At  inter- 
vals he  turned  and  smiled  at  her,  and  she  began  to  antici- 
pate the  evening  and  the  charm  of  his  old  house.  She  was 
a  little  surprised  to  find  he  was  going  a  good  way  down 
the  river,  and  then  that  later  on  he  headed  the  launch  into 
a  small  sheltered  bay  with  scattered  bush  about  it. 

"  I  thought  it  would  be  nice  if  we  had  a  fire  and  a  picnic 
here,"  he  said.  "  I  brought  food.  We  may  have  another 
shower,  but  a  little  damp  won't  hurt  you,  will  it?  " 

"  Oh  dear,  no,"  and  she  entered  into  the  spirit  of  it 
willingly  enough,  though  she  had  a  vague  feeling  that  she 
was  being  managed  to  some  end. 

The  night  came  upon  them  before  they  had  finished  their 
meal.  Dane  piled  driftwood  upon  the  fire.  They  sat 
side  by  side  to  smoke  with  their  arms  about  each  other. 
They  both  knew  they  were  shelving  the  subject  they  most 
wanted  to  talk  about.  And  they  were  both  irritated  to 
think  they  would  not  have  real  peace  again  with  each 
other  till  they  had  talked  it  out.  A  shower  drove  them  to 
cover.  But  he  did  not  suggest  the  cabin  of  the  Diana,  the 
one  place  where  they  would  have  kept  dry.  He  drew  her 
under  a  puriri  tree,  and  they  stood  close  together  trying 
to  avoid  the  drops.  She  began  to  see  that  he  had  no  in- 
tention of  taking  her  home  with  him  that  night. 

"  Well,"  he  began  abruptly  as  they  stood  lit  up  occa- 
sionally by  the  sputtering  flames  of  the  fire,  "  have  you 
thought  about  marrying  me?  " 


214  THE  STRANGE  ATTRACTION 

"  Of  course  I've  thought  about  it." 

"  It's  stopped  raining."  He  led  the  way  back  to  tHe 
fire  and  respread  a  dry  rug  on  the  ground  near. 

"What's  the  trouble,  Valerie?  We  have  to  understand 
each  other  before  we  go  any  further,  and  I  cannot  see  at 
all  why  you  cannot  go  through  the  marriage  ceremony 
with  me.  I  know  as  well  as  you  do  that  it  is  properly 
only  a  matter  for  statisticians.  But  you  and  I  are  too 
conspicuous  to  carry  on  any  love  affair  without  being 
found  out." 

"  Well,  what  on  earth  can  they  do  to  us  if  we  are  found 
out  ?  I  would  have  to  leave  the  News,  of  course.  But  you 
said,  didn't  you,  that  you  wanted  me  to  live  with  you?  " 

"  As  my  wife,  yes  indeed." 

"  You  mean " 

"  I  mean,  my  dear,  that  I'm  not  going  to  be  happy 
about  having  you  come  there  often  in  any  other  way.  I 
don't  wish  to  be  selfish  in  this  business,  but  have  you 
thought  of  me  at  all?  Have  you  thought  what  it  would 
look  like  if  with  my  reputation  I  allowed  you  to  come  and 
live  with  me,  or  allowed  you  to  become  openly  compro- 
mised with  me?  Of  course  I  forgot  it  all  myself  last  Sat- 
urday. I  shall  forget  it  again  if  you  make  me.  But  I  do 
remember,  however  mad  it  may  make  you  to  hear  it,  that 
your  father  was  the  first  man  to  call  on  me  and  to  ask  me 
to  dine  with  him  when  I  came  up  disgraced  from  Christ- 
church,  and  he  is  my  lawyer.  He  might  prefer  a  love 
affair  to  marriage  if  we  could  keep  it  quiet.  But  we 
couldn't  keep  it  quiet.  I  know  the  conventions  of  the 
world,  my  dear.  It's  being  found  out  that  matters.  But 
why  are  you  so  serious  about  the  blooming  ceremony? 
You  are  being  conventional  about  it,  not  I.  Why  can't 
we  go  through  it  and  then  ignore  it  and  live  by  our  own 
ceremony.  That  is  the  intelligent  way  to  take  it,  child." 


THE  STRANGE  ATTRACTION  215 

She  stared  into  the  fire  saying  nothing. 

"  Valerie,  I  have  to  know  what  is  in  your  mind  about 
this.  What  are  you  afraid  of?  " 

"  Dane,  I  lived  with  somebody  else  once." 

"  I  have  wondered  if  you  had." 

"  You  have !  " 

"  Yes.  Why,  you  haven't  been  afraid  to  tell  me  that, 
have  you?  " 

"  No,  not  exactly  afraid.  But — will  that — do  you  still 
wish  to  marry  me?  " 

"Are  you  trying  to  be  funny,  or  what?  " 

She  turned  from  the  fire  to  look  steadily  into  his 
face. 

:"  It  would  be  all  right  to  put  that  question  to  a  boy  of 
twenty-one,  if  you  had  been  rotten  enough  to  let  a  boy  of 
twenty-one  fall  in  love  with  you  without  being  told  it,  but 
to  put  it  to  me  is  ridiculous.  You  know,  I'm  beginning  to 
see  that  you  are  not  as  unconventional  as  you  think  you 
are;  that  was  an  absurdly  conventional  question,  and  it 
had  behind  it  assumptions  that  I  am  an  intolerant  and 
hypocritical  blockhead." 

Her  face  broke  into  a  smile. 

"  Yes,  for  God's  sake  let's  laugh  at  ourselves.  This 
seriousness  is  awful." 

"  How  old  are  you  ?  "  she  asked  abruptly. 

"  Thirty-seven,  and  old  and  full  of  days  at  that." 

"  I'm  twenty-six." 

"  And  absurdly  young  for  that." 

"  I  am  not." 

"  Well,  you  seem  so  to  me,  but  I  like  you  that  way." 

He  lit  a  cigarette  for  her  and  drew  the  rug  about  her. 
The  wind  had  gone  down,  and  the  night  was  fresh  but  not 
cold.  The  growing  crescent  moon  peered  down  at  them 
through  a  space  between  two  trees. 


216  THE  STRANGE  ATTRACTION 

"  Haven't  you  a  good  deal  more  to  say? "  he  asked 
presently,  with  a  teasing  smile. 

"  Look  here,  you're  not  going  to  laugh  me  into  marry- 
ing you,  you  know,"  she  said  fiercely. 

"  I  know  no  better  way." 

She  caught  his  nearest  hand  and  kissed  it,  and  continued 
to  hold  it  between  her  own. 

"  I  suppose  I  am  being  too  serious,"  she  said  thought- 
fully. "  But  that  other  affair  taught  me  a  lot.  It  all 
went  wrong,  you  see.  I  don't  know  now  how  I  ever  came 
to  begin.  It  only  lasted  three  months,  and  it  is  all  over 
and  done  with." 

"  Is  it  really?  I  didn't  know  that  anything  was  ever 
over  and  done  with." 

"  Oh,  now,  you  know  what  I  mean." 

"  Yes,  I  won't  interrupt.     Go  on." 

"  Well,  then,  because  we  hadn't  married,  we  got  out  of 
it  without  any  trouble." 

Dane  took  his  pipe  out  of  his  mouth  and  waited  a  mo- 
ment before  he  spoke. 

"  Really?  You  got  out  of  it  without  any  trouble? 
Then  it  must  have  been  a  highly  immoral  relation,  without 
a  scrap  of  feeling  on  either  side." 

"  I  see.     Of  course  I  don't  mean  it  that  way." 

"  No,  you  meant  that  you  didn't  have  to  go  through 
the  business  of  getting  a  divorce." 

"  Yes." 

"  And  you  don't  want  to  marry  me  because  you're  sure 
it  won't  last  long  and  that  you  will  wish  to  leave  me  or  I 
you." 

"  Oh,  I'm  not  sure  of  anything.  Oh  dear,  why  do  we 
have  to  talk  about  it?  "  She  dropped  her  head  in  her 
hands  again. 

"  Yes,  I  think  it's  a  beastly  bore  myself.     It  would  be 


THE  STRANGE  ATTRACTION  217 

so  much  pleasanter  to  drift  on  with  our  thumbs  to  our 
noses,  and  much  more  exciting,  and  incidentally  that 
end  you  are  anticipating  so  seriously  would  be  much 
nearer." 

He  relit  his  pipe  and  went  on  smoking.  Then  he  got 
up  and  put  more  wood  on  the  fire,  and  after  raking  in  the 
straggled  pieces,  he  stood  looking  down  at  her.  The  fitful 
light  showed  him  that  her  face  was  absurdly  troubled  and 
serious.  He  dropped  down  beside  her  and  laid  his  pipe 
ion  the  ground. 

•"  Valerie,  I  ask  you  to  go  through  the  marriage  cere- 
mony with  me  because  it  will  save  us  a  lot  of  trouble.  I 
Idon't  attach  any  more  meaning  to  the  damned  thing  than 
you  do.  Everybody  jeers  at  it  to-day;  I  mean  everybody 
yfiih  any  knowledge  of  human  beings,  and  uses  it  merely 
as  a  passport,  and  it  happens  to  be  a  perfectly  good  pass- 
port. I'm  one  with  you  in  making  our  own  ceremony,  the 
thing  we  shall  live  by,  or  try  to  live  by,  the  thing  that  shall 
be  at  least  a  living  force  to  us.  Now  take  your  own  ob- 
jections to  marriage.  You  don't  have  to  be  domestic  for 
me.  The  boys  run  my  house  much  better  than  you  could. 
You  don't  have  to  look  after  me  when  I  am  nervous — or 
seedy.  I  much  prefer  that  you  should  not.  I  don't  ask 
you  to  change  your  ways  and  I  don't  propose  to  change 
mine  for  you.  And  then — I'm  not  asking  you  to  have 
children.  I  have  always  wanted  kids,  but  somehow  I  have 
always  cared  for  women  who  did  not.  I  have  to  accept 
that- 

"  Oh,  Dane,  I  cannot  help  it,"  she  broke  in  angrily. 
"  Don't  you  suppose  that  if  I  could  be  different  I  would? 
Do  you  think  I've  had  an  easy  life  trying  to  be  myself? 
If  I'm  not  to  be  myself  what  the  devil  am  I  to  be?  A 
shadow  of  my  mother,  my  father,  my  sisters,  my  aunts? 
What?  If  I  could  be  a  nice  plump  purring  bovine  senti- 


218  THE  STRANGE  ATTRACTION 

mental  ass,  slobbered  over  by  men  and  called  *  that  sweet 
thing,'  everybody  would  let  me  alone.  But  I  can't  be  that 
thing.  I  look  at  women  like  that  and  they  make  me  sick. 
I'm  sorry  I  don't  want  children,  but  I  don't  want  them. 
I'm  afraid  of  them.  Children  do  awful  things  to  you. 
There  are  two  things  in  this  world  that  kill  courage  in 
people,  children  and  possessions.  And  I  won't  have  either 
of  them.  The  terrible  thing  about  possessions  is  that  once 
you  acquire  them  you  will  sell  your  soul  to  keep  them,  and 
the  terrible  thing  about  children  is  that  you  want  posses- 
sions for  them  you  never  had  for  yourself,  and  so  you  get 
fears  for  them  you  never  had  for  yourself." 

"  Yes,  a  number  of  the  old  religious  orders  had  that 
idea." 

"  I  don't  care  who  had  it.  I've  learned  it  from  watch- 
ing the  people  about  me.  All  the  fight  goes  out  of  people 
when  they  get  a  house  and  furniture  and  a  child  or  two. 
I  mean  the  fight  about  ideas.  Of  course  they  fight  more 
than  ever  for  a  bigger  house  and  more  furniture." 

"All  right,  dear.  What  has  all  that  got  to  3o  with 
marrying  me?  We've  settled  the  children,  and  my  posses- 
sions are  willed  to  the  Sydney  Museum.  Under  no  cir- 
cumstances can  you  have  them.  I've  only  just  enough 
income  to  feed  you.  I  shall  have  to  work  overtime  to  buy 
you  jewellery " 

yalerie  laughed  helplessly. 

"Oh,  Dane,  what  am  I  to  do  with  you?  You  'don't 
see  it  at  all.  I  want  to  go  on  with  my  work.  I  want  to 
stay  on  the  paper." 

"  Well,  stay  on  it,  if  you  want  to,  as  long  as  you  want 
to.  And,  my  dear  child,  I'm  not  supposing  we  are  any 
different  from  lots  of  other  people.  Love  will  change  with 
us,  and  if  it  becomes  something  you  want  no  longer,  well, 
I  want  you  to  understand  that  you  will  be  free  to  go.  I 


THE  STRANGE  ATTRACTION  219 

couldn't  bear  to  have  anything  near  me  that  did  not  wish' 
to  stay.  And  when  you  wish  it  you  will  find  nothing  easier 
than  getting  a  divorce  from  me." 

"  Oh,  please,  please " 

"  Why  am  I  not  to  mention  the  thing  that  is  looming 
largest  in  your  mind?  I  wish  to  impress  on  you  that  the 
things  you  are  afraid  of  are  the  least  of  this  business  be- 
tween you  and  me.  The  marriage  ceremony,  the  divorce, 
mere  forms  easily  managed  for  people  like  us.  But  you 
seem  to  be  overlooking  the  real  thing.  I'm  not  asking  you 
to  do  any  more  than  you  are  now  committed  to  doing. 
You  want  to  live  with  me  for  a  time.  You  don't  know 
how  long,  and  I'm  sure  I  don't.  You've  fallen  in  love  with 
me,  and  you  have  told  yourself  that  if  love  came  to  you 
as  you  wanted  it  you  would  have  it.  I  think  you're  quite 
right,  and  I  hope  I'm  going  to  be  happy  because  it  hap- 
pened to  be  me.  And  I  know  that  because  you  are  what 
you  are,  you  are  going  to  be  chained  far  more  by  your  own 
compulsions  than  you  are  by  any  formal  ceremon}'.  Now, 
since  you  have  let  yourself  in  for  the  big  thing,  why  on 
earth  be  so  serious  about  the  little  one?  " 

He  put  an  arm  about  her  shoulder  and  stared  up  at  the 
moon. 

"  Please  don't  think  I  don't  respect  your  stand,"  he 
went  on.  "  It's  a  far  bigger  thing  to  have  your  own  un- 
written laws  and  to  live  by  them  than  it  is  to  be  swayed 
by  mere  convention.  You  could  stand  in  the  middle  of  the 
ruin  of  convention  and  keep  your  ideals.  You  would  not 
succumb  as  so  many  so-called  virtuous  women  succumb  on 
board  ship,  or  in  the  islands,  or  in  places  where  conven- 
tions have  lapsed,  simply  because  everybody  was  running 
amuck  around  you.  All  I'm  asking  of  you  is  that  we  do 
the  thing  that  will  help  us  to  keep  this  relation  fine  as  long 
as  possible  here.  And  there  can  be  only  one  reason  now 


220  THE  STRANGE  ATTRACTION 

why  you  won't  do  it,  and  that,  because  you  don't  trust 
ine." 

He  took  her  face  in  his  hands  and  held  it  and  looked 
into  it. 

She  was  not  sure  whether  she  did  or  not,  but  she  could 
never  have  looked  into  his  eyes  and  said  she  did  not.  She 
knew  well  enough  that  he  had  every  intention  then  of  being 
decent  if  their  relation  broke  up,  but  love  was  such  a  queer 
thing,  it  could  fight  so  desperately  and  to  the  last  ditch  to 
preserve  itself,  as  she  had  learned.  However,  it  was  to 
his  intention  that  she  answered. 

"  I  do  trust  you.     It  isn't  that." 

He  dropped  her  face  and  with  a  quick  movement  got  to 
his  feet,  filled  now  with  resentment  at  the  stubborn  fighter 
in  her.  He  looked  up  at  the  west  where  clouds  were 
mounting  to  the  zenith. 

"  It's  going  to  rain  again.     I'd  better  take  you  back." 

Hurt  by  a  sense  of  misunderstanding  they  both  got 
silently  into  the  launch.  He  carefully  arranged  every  pro- 
tection against  the  coming  shower,  insisting  that  she  take 
the  whole  of  the  rug.  He  lit  the  lantern  at  the  bow  and 
headed  out  into  the  river. 

The  trouble  was  that  Valerie  could  not  let  go  all  at 
once  the  things  she  had  been  telling  herself  for  years.  It 
seemed  to  her  it  would  be  a  weak  thing  to  succumb  to  the 
first  attack.  And  it  must  be  confessed  that  she  would 
have  loved  to  put  up  a  fight  and  stand  with  Dane  against 
the  world.  She  was  young  enough  and  reckless  enough  to 
love  the  idea  of  it.  She  did  not  see  then  that  the  funda- 
mental difference  between  them  was  that  she  was  a  fighter 
and  thought  a  great  deal  worth  fighting  for,  whereas  he 
was  not  a  fighter  and  thought  little  worth  a  row. 

And  then  she  was  much  too  sure  of  herself.  She  was 
inclined  to  overrate  her  accomplishment  in  this  matter  of 


221 

Herself  versus  the  world,  to  discount  the  support  she  had 
received  from  certain  factors  in  her  life.  She  had  had, 
and  always  would  have  in  her  own  country,  the  loyalty  of 
her  class  whether  she  wanted  it  or  not,  and  the  power  of 
money  to  shut  mouths.  She  had  never  had  the  poverty 
that  forces  one  to  hunt  for  bread  against  prejudice.  She 
had  had  added  to  the  force  of  her  own  personality  the 
glamour  of  her  set,  despise  it  as  she  might. 

And  Dane  saw  this  very  clearly,  and  was  annoyed  that 
a  girl  of  her  perceptions  did  not  see  it  as  he  did.  He  was 
angry  now  that  they  had  had  to  have  all  this  talk  when 
he  had  wanted  merely  to  feel.  And  then  he  was  chagrined 
that  she  could  stand  like  that  against  him. 

He  made  no  response  at  first  when  she  put  her  arm 
round  him.  She  had  to  withdraw  it  when  the  shower  de- 
scended upon  them. 

"  You'd  better  go  into  the  cabin,"  he  said. 

"  I  don't  want  to.     I  won't  get  wet." 

In  spite  of  the  cloud  between  them  they  rather  enjoyed 
the  speeding  of  the  launch  through  the  rain.  Dane  drove 
recklessly,  but  the  river  was  wide  here  and  he  knew  it  well. 
For  a  time  the  stars  and  the  moon  were  blotted  out  and 
the  Wairoa  was  a  stretch  of  blackness  in  a  world  only  a 
shade  less  dark.  He  began  to  feel  less  irritable.  After 
all,  he  did  not  believe  she  would  resist  him  much  longer. 

She  sat  trying  to  think  over  all  he  had  said,  and  over 
some  of  the  things  that  had  not  yet  been  said  at  all.  She 
began  to  see  that  she  had  been  thinking  far  more  of  her 
wishes  and  her  convictions  than  of  his.  Indeed,  she  saw 
with  a  pang  of  self-accusation  that  she  had  been  thinking 
mostly  of  herself. 

The  shower  passed,  and  the  moon  and  stars  came  out 
the  clearer  for  the  freshening  of  the  atmosphere.  Valerie 
shook  the  rug  and  assured  Dane  that  she  was  not  wet. 


222  THE  STRANGE  ATTRACTION 

Then  in  readjusting  it  she  sat  as  close  to  him  as  she  could 
and  put  her  arm  about  him  once  more.  He  tried  to  steel 
himself  against  response.  He  wondered  if  she  suspected 
his  resolution  and  was  trying  to  undermine  it.  He  tried 
to  think  of  something  else,  but  the  vision  of  her  going  with 
him  into  his  old  house  began  to  obsess  him.  In  spite  of 
the  cool  night  they  grew  warm  sitting  side  by  side.  But 
he  told  himself  this  would  never  do,  and  he  whipped  up  his 
courage  and  resolution,  and  when  they  came  opposite  the 
southern  end  of  Dargaville  he  spoke  the  first  word  that 
had  been  spoken  for  some  time  and  asked  her  where  he 
should  land  her. 

She  did  not  answer  for  a  minute.  "  Oh  anywhere,"  she 
said  very  coldly,  moving  away  from  him. 

The  Diana  ran  on  for  some  distance  before  she  came  to 
a  standstill  near  the  bank. 

Valerie  stood  up  at  once  without  a  word,  letting  the  rug 
fall  at  her  feet,  and  she  moved  towards  the  centre  of  the 
boat. 

Dane  gave  up  at  once.  He  restarted  the  engine  and 
swung  the  launch  back  into  midstream.  Then  he  moved 
forward  to  Valerie  who  had  stopped  by  the  cabin. 

**  Will  you  please  land  me  here  at  once,"  she  said,  in  a 
voice  shaken  with  anger  and  humiliation. 

"  I  will  not.  Not  now,"  he  said,  as  his  arms  went  round 
her. 


IV 

"  Dane,  would  it  hurt  you  to  tell  me  that  tale?  I'd 
like  to  know  the  truth  about  it." 

"  The  truth  ?  "  He  smiled  and  shrugged  his  shoulders. 
"  I  won't  promise  you  the  truth.  But  I  could  give  you 
my  version." 


THE  STRANGE  ATTRACTION  223 

*  THat  will  do,"  she  said. 

It  was  Sunday  afternoon  a  week  later.  They  were  sit- 
ting on  the  top  of  the  range  behind  his  house  with  a  fine 
view  spread  out  before  them.  The  showery  weather  had 
icleared  the  air,  and  the  day  was  fresh  and  crystalline. 
The  two  Airedales  were  skirmishing  around  them. 

Dane  looked  off  into  space  for  some  minutes. 

"  What  a  fool  one  can  be,"  he  said,  half  to  himself. 
Then  he  looked  at  Valerie,  who  like  himself  was  hatless, 
lounging  easily  on  the  grass-tufted  rock  beside  him. 

She  flashed  a  merry  look  at  him.  "  Go  on  then  with  the 
tale  of  a  fool." 

"  I  don't  know  where  to  begin.  It  was  always  the  tale 
of  a  fool.  You  see,  I've  never  known  what  to  do  with  your 
sex." 

"  I  haven't  noticed  any  deficiency  in  that  direction." 

"  You  will,  before  you're  finished  with  me." 

**'  Look  here,  you  always  put  it  that  way,  as  if  I  were 
managing  this  business." 

"  You  are,  Miss  Superman." 

"  Dane,  I  will  not  be  compared  with  that  dreadful  crea- 
ture. But  please,  tell  me  the  story.  It  doesn't  hurt  you 
any  more,  does  it?  "  She  put  out  a  hand  which  he  took 
and  kissed. 

"  No,  not  now."  He  put  more  tobacco  into  the  bowl  of 
his  pipe,  and  then  as  if  changing  his  mind  put  it  down  on 
the  ground,  and  drew  up  his  knees. 

"  You  know  the  names  of  the  women  concerned,  I  sup- 
pose." 

"  The  Goldens  and  Denisthornes  are  the  only  ones  I 
know.  Were  there  any  more?  " 

"  No.  Those  are  enough.  My  wife  had  met  Mrs. 
Golden  in  Sydney,  and  liked  her,  God  knows  why,  and 
when  we  came  over  to  Christchurch  the  Goldens  met  us, 


224  THE  STRANGE  ATTRACTION 

and  invited  us  to  dinner.  Things  were  going  wrong,  in- 
deed had  been  for  some  time  between  my  wife  and  myself. 
I  didn't  care  about  the  people  she  seemed  to  like,  and  I 
didn't  like  the  Goldens,  either  of  them,  but  I  went,  and  at 
that  first  dinner  we  met  the  Denisthornes.  I  liked  them 
both  and  we  began  to  meet  them  everywhere  around.  Mrs. 
Denisthorne  attracted  me  a  good  deal,  and  I  knew  I  at- 
tracted her.  I  thought  I  was  being  careful — and  then 
Denisthorne  had  to  go  to  America." 

Dane  picked  up  a  stone  and  threw  it  down  the  hillside 
and  watched  it  land  in  the  head  of  a  tree-fern. 

"  My  wife  and  I  had  come  to  a  stage  where  we  could  not 
go  on.  I  did  not  know  till  afterwards  that  she  had  fallen 
in  love  with  a  rich  Melbourne  man,  and  that  she  was  only 
too  glad  of  an  excuse  to  leave  me  and  go  back  to  Austra- 
lia. And  I  think  that  before  she  went  she  must  have 
asked  Mrs.  Golden  to  keep  an  eye  on  me.  Mrs.  Golden 
had  been  doing  that.  I  suppose  a  man  is  a  cad  to  belittle 
a  woman  who  gets  infatuated  about  him.  I  have  tried  to 
see  the  Mrs.  Goldens  of  the  world  as  a  doctor  sees  them. 
But  it  isn't  easy.  I  would  as  soon  be  in  a  room  with  a 
boa  constrictor  smiling  pleasantly  at  me  as  I  would  with 
Mrs.  Golden.  She  was  clever  enough  while  my  wife  was 
there  not  to  let  her  see  anything.  After  she  was  gone  she 
went  off  her  head.  She  kept  on  sending  me  invitations 
which  I  never  accepted,  but  the  trouble  was,  as  they  were 
at  the  head  of  everything,  I  kept  meeting  them  everywhere. 
And  she  was  very  hospitable  to  Mrs.  Denisthorne.  Phew ! 
She  was  a  devil. 

"  Well,  dear,  Mrs.  Denisthorne  and  I  fell  down,  of 
course.  I've  nothing  to  say  for  myself.  I  wanted  her. 
My  marriage  had  been  very  unhappy.  It  had  been  a 
penance.  Serves  me  right.  I  went  into  those  things  with- 
out thinking.  And  so  I  cared  a  lot  about  Mrs.  Denis- 


THE  STRANGE  ATTRACTION  225 

thorne.  She  was  very  charming.  I  saw  she  was  afraid  of 
Mrs.  Golden.  It  seems  that  Mrs.  Golden  had  wanted 
Denisthorne  herself  years  before.  In  fact,  she  seems  to 
have  wanted  almost  everybody.  You  can  see  the  situa- 
tion. She  had  been  lying  in  wait  to  get  back  at  Mrs. 
Denisthorne.  And  my  wife  came  back  and  sued  me  for 
divorce,  and  Denisthorne  came  back " 

Dane  paused  for  a  few  seconds. 

"  No  man  has  ever  made  me  feel  such  a  beastly  rotter 
as  Denisthorne  did.  It  always  hurts  me  to  think  of  it. 
He  understood  too  much.  He  forgave  his  wife.  He  for- 
gave me.  And  he  cared,  cared  awfully.  He  begged  me 
to  let  the  thing  go  through  without  a  fight.  It  would 
have  been  silly  to  fight,  anyway.  We  had  been  too  well 
trapped.  So  it  went  through  quietly.  The  papers  printed 
nothing  but  the  bare  fact.  I  saw  Denisthorne  wanted  his 
wife,  and  I  saw  she  really  wanted  him.  I  told  him  I  would 
get  out  quietly.  But  I  reckoned  without  Mrs.  Golden. 
And  this  is  where  the  rest  of  the  story  begins. 

"  I  was  living  in  the  Manipouri  Hotel.  One  wet  after- 
noon I  went  out  of  my  room  leaving  it  unlocked,  and  went 
to  the  room  of  an  Australian  who  had  just  come,  to  plan 
with  him  that  Lake  Ada  walking  trip,  which  I  wanted  to 
do  before  I  left  the  south.  I  yarned  with  him  about  two 
hours,  and  we  drank,  drank  too  much,  and  I  had  been 
pretty  reckless  for  some  time.  It  was  well  after  six 
o'clock  when  I  remembered  I  had  to  go  out  to  an  early 
dinner  with  some  newspaper  men.  I  went  back  to  my 
rooms  and  found  Mrs.  Golden  there.  What  I  ever  did  to 
that  woman  to  make  her  so  mad  1  do  not  know.  I  had 
been  courteous  to  her,  but  I  swear  I  never  gave  her  the 
least  encouragement.  I  couldn't.  She  was  the  last  thing 
in  the  world  I  could  bear.  She  was  fat  and  gross !  Hor- 
rible !  Rapacious !  And  somehow  she  had  gone  mad  about 


1226  THE  STRANGE  ATTRACTION 

me.  I  suppose  I  was  a  cad.  Certainly  I  was  a  God- 
damned fool.  When  I  saw  her  come  grinning  at  me  I  must 
have  let  her  see  what  I  thought  of  her.  I'd  had  enough 
whisky  to  make  me  reckless.  And  no  woman  could  ever 
forgive  that,  I  know.  I  told  her  to  get  out  at  once,  and 
when  she  didn't,  I  did  the  unpardonable  thing.  I  went 
down  to  the  office.  The  manager  happened  to  be  there, 
and  I  swore  at  him  and  the  clerks  for  allowing  a  woman 
to  go  up  to  my  rooms,  and  I  told  him  to  go  and  get  her 
out.  He  didn't  know  who  it  was,  and  he  went. 

"  No  man  in  his  senses  would  have  behaved  as  I  did,  and 
of  course  I  deserved  to  pay.  Well,  I  don't  know  what 
passed  between  the  manager  and  Mrs.  Golden,  but  when  I 
tell  you  that  Golden  was  one  of  the  owners  of  the  hotel,  a 
little  fact  I  did  not  know,  you  will  see  things.  As  I 
thought  about  it  afterwards,  I  saw  that  being  the  kind  of 
thing  she  was  she  could  not  trust  me.  So  her  idea  was  to 
get  in  first  and  do  it  quickly.  What  she  told  her  husband 
I  don't  know.  Anyway  I  went  off  in  blissful  ignorance 
with  the  Australian  the  next  day,  and  was  away  nearly  a 
month  and  then  I  left  him  to  go  on  to  Dunedin  while  I 
went  back  to  Christchurch.  As  we  had  been  wandering 
about  in  the  wilds  I  had  heard  nothing.  I  was  met  by  the 
hotel  manager  who  told  me  he  was  very  sorry,  but  I  could 
not  stay  in  the  hotel.  I've  never  been  so  staggered  in  my 
life.  I  hunted  up  a  journalist  and  wormed  the  whole 
story  out  of  him.  I  suppose  you  know  it.  It  was  that  I 
lured  Mrs.  Golden  to  my  rooms  when  I  was  drunk,  that  I 
behaved  disgustingly  and  practically  assaulted  her,  and 
that  I  had  been  blackballed  out  of  my  club  in  consequence. 

"  Well,  dear,  I  couldn't  take  it  in,  not  at  all.  Of  course 
one  hears  that  things  like  this  happen.  But  to  see  myself 
the  monster  that  rumour  was  painting  me,  well,  it  made  me 
feel  queer.  I  thought  I  was  going  mad.  I  told  my 


THE  STRANGE  ATTRACTION 

friends  what  had  happened  and  that  I  had  the  Australian 
as  witness  as  to  what  time  I  went  back  to  my  room,  and 
they  believed  me  and  started  counter  stories.  And  a  few 
men  advised  me  to  fight  it.  Fight  it!  My  God!  What 
a  sweet  mess  it  would  have  been  to  air  in  the  courts !  And 
I  had  no  money  to  fight  it,  and  the  Goldens  were  among 
the  richest  people  in  the  country.  And  then  I  didn't  care. 
What  was  I  to  fight  it  for?  The  few  men  I  cared  about 
believed  me,  and  to  my  astonishment  Denisthorne  was  one 
of  those  who  offered  to  lend  me  money.  But  all  I  wanted 
was  to  get  away  from  that  damned  crowd  and  never  have 
anything  to  do  with  their  kind  again.  And  then  I  saw  I 
didn't  really  care  about  them.  I  had  imposed  them  on 
myself. 

"  But  the  thing  did  hurt  me,  absurdly  so,  it  seems  now. 
It  was  the  malignancy  in  it,  the  willingness  of  so  many 
people  to  come  down  on  me,  people  I  had  never  hurt,  peo- 
ple I  had  never  seen,  the  men  who  blackballed  me  out  of 
that  club,  and  it  made  me  think  all  the  more  of  the  ones 
who  stood  by  me.  But  it  hit  me  hard.  I  had  never 
passed  a  rumour  on,  or  tried  to  disturb  any  man's  dreams 
of  himself,  and  I  had  never  allowed  any  woman  to  care  for 
me  if  I  was  not  prepared  to  see  her  through.  And  it  all 
seemed  so  unfair.  God  knows  I  was  glad  to  run  away 
from  it.  I  came  up  to  Auckland.  I  was  bitter  and  lonely 
and  horribly  sensitive  about  the  whole  thing.  I  wondered 
if  the  hotels  would  take  me.  I  shall  never  forget  my  feel- 
ing as  I  went  into  the  Star  and  gave  my  name.  But  they 
did,  and  the  next  day  your  father  called  on  me  and  dined 
with  me  there.  And  I  found  the  newspapermen  had  been 
written  to  by  the  fellows  in  Christchurch,  and  I  was  not 
without  friends.  That  ought  to  have  balanced  me.  But 
it  didn't  seem  as  if  anyone  could  help  me.  It  was  some- 
thing I  had  to  do  for  myself.  I  didn't  want  to  meet  any- 


228  THE  STRANGE  ATTRACTION 

one.     I  drifted  on  to  the  Bay  of  Islands  and  to  Hokianga 
as  if  I  were  looking  for  something  to  pull  me  up. 

"  One  night  in  a  little  pub  at  Hokianga  I  struck  an 
Englishman,  a  strange  chap.  I  don't  know  what  he  had 
fled  from.  I  never  got  near  him.  I  can't  account  for  him 
at  all.  He  didn't  drink  to  excess.  He  didn't  gamble. 
He  didn't  have  anything  to  do  with  any  woman  about. 
He  apparently  had  a  little  money.  He  asked  me  to  go 
home  with  him.  I  went.  I  stayed  with  him  for  four 
months.  I  was  ill  at  first  and  he  looked  after  me.  Then 
I  worked  on  his  run  with  him.  He  was  fattening  cattle 
and  clearing  quite  a  large  place.  He  wasn't  far  from  the 
Hokianga  harbour.  You  know  it?  Well,  I  used  to  wan- 
der about  it  at  night,  and  I  think  that  it  more  than  any- 
thing else  brought  me  back  to  the  world.  I'd  carried  a 
pistol  for  some  time,  and  had  come  near  to  using  it.  One 
night  I  sat  on  a  little  beach.  It  was  a  full  moon  and  that 
harbour  was  the  spirit  of  beauty  itself.  And  I  told  my- 
self it  was  a  grand  night  and  a  grand  place  to  die  with  or 
to  come  to  some  conclusion  about  living.  It  was  funny 
how  I  did  it.  One  can  be  such  an  incurable  idiot !  I  sat 
down,  and  on  one  side  of  me  I  made  a  heap  of  pebbles  each 
named  with  something  I  cared  to  live  for,  books  I  had  not 
read,  places  I  wanted  to  see,  and  so  on,  and  on  the  other 
I  put  the  stones  named  for  the  reasons  for  not  living.  It 
will  amuse  you  to  know  I  called  one  of  them  '  women.' 
Well,  I  was  astonished  to  see  that  the  arguments  for  going 
on  were  much  more  numerous  than  the  arguments  for 
shooting  myself  on  the  spot.  I  threw  the  pistol  into  the 
harbour  and  decided  to  go  on.  It  gave  me  a  curious  feel- 
ing for  days  to  go  about  thinking  that  I  might  have  been 
dead,  and  that  the  thing  was  in  my  hands,  and  that  I  had 
put  a  real  issue  up  to  myself.  I  had  drifted  along  so 
much  of  my  life.  I  had  a  strange  exhilaration.  And  so 


THE  STRANGE  ATTRACTION  229 

I  came  back  to  work  and  life,  and  now  that  you  are  going 
to  marrjT  me,  Valerie  dear — what!  You  are  crying  over 
that?" 

He  swung  towards  her  and  pulled  her  into  his  arms  and 
kissed  her  wet  eyes. 

"  Good  Lord,  my  dear.  It's  nothing  to  cry  about  on  a 
spring  afternoon.  It's  funny,  very  funny  to  me  now. 
Was  it  your  vibrations  wandering  about  the  universe,  I 
wonder,  that  caught  me  that  night?  Who  knows?  Oh, 
kiss  me,  old  girl,  and  stop  crying,  for  God's  sake." 


CHAPTER  XIV 


"TIT  TELL,  tKat's  the  last  of  it,  thank  God,  and 

%/%/  you're  no  more  pleased  than  I  am,  Johnson. 
»  »  And  it's  a  topping  good  job  you've  done." 

The  weary  jobbing  man's  face  lit  up  with  a  pleased 
smile  at  Dane's  words. 

They  stood  with  Valerie  and  Ryder  and  Jimmy  beside 
the  jobbing  machine  which  five  minutes  before  had  run  off 
the  last  inset  ready  now  to  go  out  with  the  paper  on  Mon- 
day. It  was  the  Saturday  night  before  the  election, 
which  did  not  take  place  till  the  following  Thursday,  but 
it  was  the  last  inset  and  the  last  chance  for  special  plead- 
ing because  the  voting  laws  of  New  Zealand  have  certain 
regulations  peculiar  to  that  land. 

With  the  idea  that  the  voter  shall  have  a  period  of  com- 
parative peace  in  which  to  sum  up  the  arguments  he  has 
heard,  nothing  of  a  coercive  nature,  nothing  designed  to 
agitate  his  meditative  mind,  is  allowed  to  be  printed  in 
any  paper  or  displayed  in  any  shape  or  form  for  two  days 
prior  to  the  polls.  The  candidates  and  their  official  rep- 
resentatives may  deliver  their  speeches  up  till  election  eve, 
but  the  newspapers  may  only  report  them  as  said  without 
comment.  Straight  news  may  be  printed,  but  also  without 
comment.  So  that  the  Monday  was  Dane's  last  chance  to 
swerve  the  wavering  mind.  And  he  had  done  his  most 
humorous  and  pungent  best  in  the  editorial  and  in  the 
inset,  and  in  putting  into  shape  the  notes  Bob  had  sent 
in  from  the  field. 

TJhe  pile  of  insets  made  a  brilliant  bit  of  colour  in  the 
drab  composing-room,  for  Dane  had  insisted  on  a  red  sheet 

230 


THE  STRANGE  ATTRACTION  231 

for  his  last  fling.  In  spite  of  Valerie's  fears  that  it  would 
look  bizarre  it  was  a  fine  and  arresting  piece  of  printing, 
set  up  and  balanced  in  Johnson's  best  style,  and  as  far  as 
Dane  was  concerned  its  arguments  were  as  hot  as  its 
colour.  He  had  spent  the  best  part  of  a  day  on  it.  It 
was  mainly  an  appeal  to  labour,  the  labour  of  the  bushes 
and  the  mills,  and  it  delicately  flattered  the  workingman 
by  appealing  to  his  intelligence  as  well  as  to  his  emotions. 
It  had  cleverly  gathered  up  every  good  thing  that  could  be 
said  for  a  change;  it  neatly  recorded  the  main  deficiencies 
of  the  Liberal  Party  in  the  matter  of  promises  to  the 
worker,  but  above  all  it  appealed  to  the  northerner  to  get 
attention  for  the  land  he  had  made  his  own. 

"  That  ought  to  make  'em  sit  up,"  said  Ryder  in  his 
dry  way  as  he  looked  at  Dane.  Both  he  and  Johnson  had 
come  to  enormously  admire  him,  not  only  because  of  his 
work,  which  they  were  quite  capable  of  appreciating,  but 
even  more  because  of  the  way  he  had  gone  about  the  office. 
Indeed,  the  little  group  was  a  good  deal  of  a  mutual  ad- 
miration society  as  it  stood  there  with  the  curious  hesi- 
tancy of  people  who  have  seen  each  other  through  a  con- 
siderable piece  of  work  with  brains  and  patience  and  hu- 
mour, and  want  to  say  something  about  it,  but  do  not  know 
what  to  say.  The  feeling  seemed  to  centre  about  Dane 
because  he  was  there  for  the  last  time  in  the  place  of  Bob 
who  would  be  back  in  his  old  chair  on  the  Monday  morning. 

Jimmy  gazed  at  his  elders  in  turn  with  a  boundless  ad- 
miration and  pride  in  the  faqt  that  he  was  here  in  at  the 
finish  with  the  rest  of  them.  He  had  got  over  his  first 
antipathy  to  Dane.  No  boy  could  have  held  out  long 
against  the  subtle  flattery  of  the  man's  approval.  For 
Dane  took  a  huge  joy  in  Jimmy,  and  of  them  all  he  most 
established  the  boy  as  man  in  his  own  eyes,  for  he  never 
ordered  him  about,  and  he  asked  his  opinion  about  weighty 


232  THE  STRANGE  ATTRACTION 

matters  and  had  once  even  taken  his  advice.  Indeed,  of 
them  all,  Dane  most  clearly  perceived  the  value  in  the  uni- 
versal cosmos  of  that  which  Jimmy  was — the  exuberant 
start  of  fresh  vitality  into  a  devitalized  world. 

Dane  gave  a  last  look  round  the  composing-room  re- 
membering the  occasion  on  which  he  had  seen  it  first.  He 
did  not  look  at  Valerie,  but  turned  to  the  men  who  had 
reached  for  their  coats. 

"  I'm  leaving  to-night.  Will  you  come  along  and  have 
a  drink?  "  He  felt  it  pathetic  that  that  was  all  he  could 
say  to  them. 

But  Ryder  and  Johnson  did  not  find  it  pathetic.  They 
were  very  thirsty. 

II 

Many  things  combined  to  make  that  week  the  most  ex- 
citing election  period  that  Dargaville  had  ever  known. 
The  whole  country  was  stirred  by  the  possibility,  loudly 
voiced  by  the  Massey  Party,  that  a  change  was  at  hand, 
and  that  the  old  Liberal  Party  which  Dick  Seddon  raised 
to  Empire  fame  was  doomed  to  an  imminent  fall.  Sir 
Joseph  Ward,  one  of  the  cleverest  financiers  the  dominion 
had  known,  was  attacked  for  lack  of  any  policy,  and  his 
side  found  little  to  say  to  stem  the  disrupting  tide.  Every 
vote  was  appealed  to  as  it  never  had  been  before.  Labour, 
the  farmers,  the  landowners,  the  women,  the  factory  hands, 
the  city  workers,  the  capitalists,  the  prohibitionists,  the 
civil  service  were  all  alike  appealed  to  to  put  new  life  in 
the  country  and  a  new  man  in  the  lead. 

And  the  Far  North  in  particular  was  roused  out  of  a 
long  apathy  by  the  energetic  campaigns  being  waged  there 
by  the  three  Massey  candidates.  Haines,  of  Marsden, 
was  a  tireless  fighter  with  every  chance  of  going  in  for 
the  third  time.  The  Bay  of  Islands  man  Sloan,  up  like 


THE  STRANGE  ATTRACTION  233 

Roger  for  the  first  time,  had  a  good  chance  against  a  weak 
rival,  and  it  was  now  well  known  that  Roger  Benton,  who 
had  the  hardest  row  to  hoe,  had  the  best  chance  any  man 
had  ever  had  against  Mobray,  the  old  Scddon  lion.  And 
so  it  was  that  to  the  delight  of  the  North  Mr.  Massey 
gave  it  his  last  week,  having  no  need  to  speak  for  himself 
in  his  own  electorate,  or  about  Auckland,  which  was  his 
stronghold.  And  to  the  everlasting  pride  of  Dargaville, 
he  was  to  make  his  last  speech  there  on  election  eve  itself. 

The  two  days  of  meditation  and  prayer  allowed  by  the 
laws  hardly  sufficed  to  cool  the  heads  of  an  electorate  that 
had  been  bombarded  with  literature  and  canvassed  from 
house  to  house  many  times  over  into  its  remotest  back- 
block  by  all  the  parties  in  turn.  The  dear,  gentle  old 
lady  who  is  the  object  of  such  solicitude  at  elections  never 
lost  her  sense  of  fluster  in  spite  of  the  benign  intentions  of 
paternal  legislation.  And  though  the  blatant  voice  of 
the  last  moment  agitator  was  silent  throughout  the  land 
there  was  in  those  last  two  days  a  tremulous  tenseness  in 
the  air,  remarked  by  the  oldest  inhabitant  of  every  settle- 
ment as  something  unprecedented  in  his  whole  experience. 

There  was  indeed  little  let  down  in  those  days  for  Va- 
lerie. On  the  Monday  morning  Roger  held  his  final  com- 
mittee meeting  in  the  office.  Neither  he  nor  anyone  else 
could  think  of  an  important  thing  that  was  not  covered. 
The  final  details  for  the  Massey  meeting  and  for  the  din- 
ner to  him  at  Mac's  on  the  Wednesday  night  were  gone 
over.  The  arrangements  for  that  night's  meeting  at  Ara- 
tapu  and  Tuesday's  at  Te  Koperu  were  scanned  for  over- 
sights. Dane's  last  leader  and  inset  were  loudly  praised. 
But  though  the  committee  found  their  labours  practically 
over  the  little  office  hummed  with  news  pouring  in  by  tele- 
gram from  all  over  the  country,  much  more  news  than 
could  be  got  into  the  available  space,  so  that  it  had  to  be 


234  THE  STRANGE  ATTRACTION 

condensed  or  rewritten.  This  was  where  Valerie  missed 
Dane,  for  Bob  was  back  on  the  paper  that  week  with  the 
one  job  on  his  hands  of  reporting  and  writing  up  the 
meetings  at  night,  and  of  helping  Roger  to  prepare  his  re- 
marks for  the  same. 

Valerie  had  refused  to  see  Dane  the  day  before  and  he 
had  told  her  he  would  not  come  into  the  town  that  week, 
but  that  he  would  look  for  her  at  the  week-end.  She  had 
wondered  in  her  only  leisure  moments  as  she  dressed  or 
bathed  whether  he  could  keep  out  of  the  excitement,  for 
as  the  great  day  approached  it  captured  even  her,  and 
when  Roger  invited  her  to  be  present  at  the  Massey  dinner 
she  found  she  really  did  wish  to  be  in  the  fun.  She  won- 
dered if  Dane  would  be  there,  for  she  was  sure  he  would 
be  asked  to  go. 

The  night  was,  for  those  who  like  that  kind  of  thing, 
an  unforgettable  affair.  As  Valerie  stood  in  her  room 
before  the  dinner,  trying  to  bathe  the  signs  of  utter  weari- 
ness from  her  face,  she  heard  an  exciting  tooting  of  horns 
and  a  great  fuss  down  in  the  street,  and  guessed  that  Mr. 
Massey  and  his  party  were  arriving  from  Whangarei. 
The  town  seemed  to  swirl  about  the  hotel.  It  had  been 
alive  all  the  afternoon  with  people  coming  up  the  river 
and  down  the  river  and  across  the  river  and  in  by  train 
to  hear  the  man  who  had  been  the  spine  of  the  country 
party  for  twenty  years.  If  she  had  not  been  so  tired, 
Valerie  would  have  run  to  the  sitting-room  to  look  out, 
but  instead  she  lay  down  on  her  bed  for  a  brief  rest. 

To  her  great  disappointment  there  was  no  sign  of  Dane 
at  the  dinner.  Besides  herself  Mrs.  Benton  was  the  only 
woman  present.  It  had  been  found  impossible  to  invite 
women  and  have  room  also  for  the  number  of  men  Roger 
wished  to  have.  No  one  could  object  to  Mrs.  Benton,  and 
of  course  Valerie  was  the  omnipotent  press.  She  triec|  to 


THE  STRANGE  ATTRACTION  235 

put  Dane  out  of  her  mind  and  to  enjoy  the  scene  for  the 
expression  that  it  was  of  a  certain  side  of  the  male  animal. 
She  was  amused  at  the  extraordinary  emphasis  put  on 
politics,  on  last  moment  cheerfulness,  on  forced  sensations 
of  every  kind.  Good  fellowship  roared  itself  hoarse  at 
that  dinner.  Promises  enough  to  bring  millenniums  to  a 
dozen  suffering  worlds  were  scattered  about  with  light- 
hearted  prodigality.  It  was  a  gorgeous  orgy  of  optimism. 
And  she  looked  on  at  it  as  she  had  looked  on  at  family 
Christmas  dinners  with  a  heart  cold  and  a  mind  aloof. 
One  hour  of  life  with  Dane,  she  thought,  was  worth  a 
thousand  such  revels  as  this. 

The  meeting  afterwards,  however,  did  move  her.  Mr. 
Massey  had  never  spoken  better  in  his  whole  career.  For 
twenty  years  the  Opposition  leader  had  led  what  was  for 
years  a  forlorn  hope,  had  fought  with  extraordinary  cour- 
age and  perseverance  a  dogged  fight  against  the  most 
powerful  premier  the  country  had  ever  had,  and  yet  he 
could  talk  to  that  packed  hall  as  if  life  had  been  for  him 
an  unchallenged  success.  And  when  the  audience  rose  at 
him  and  began  to  throw  up  hats  and  sticks  and  break  the 
chairs  she  found  she  was  swirling  with  it.  But  the  thing 
that  stirred  her  most  was  his  reference,  when  speaking  of 
the  local  situation,  to  the  brilliant  work  of  the  little  News. 
And  she  found  herself  flushing  furiously  when  heads  were 
turned  and  nodded  at  her.  She  wondered  if  Dane  were 
there  somewhere  listening  amused  and  apart. 

The  meeting  was  not  over  till  after  eleven  o'clock,  and 
then  there  was  the  ceremony  of  seeing  Mr.  Massey  and 
his  party  off  in  three  motor  cars  for  Te  Koperu,  where 
they  were  to  cross  the  river  and  go  on  by  cars  to  Auck- 
land, riding  all  through  the  night.  This  over,  Valerie  had 
but  one  idea,  to  get  to  bed,  to  take  aspirin,  and  to  blot 
it  all  out,  for  she  knew  the  next  day  and  night  would  be 


236  THE 'STRANGE  ATTRACTION 

even  more  strenuous.  She  slipped  away  from  Mrs.  Ben- 
ton,  who  was  staying  the  night  with  the  Boltons,  and  she 
entered  the  hotel  by  the  side  door. 

The  whole  house  was  ablaze  with  light  and  excitement 
except  at  the  public  bars,  which  in  accordance  with  the 
law  were  all  in  darkness. 

As  she  went  up  the  stairs  she  stopped  electrified.  A 
clear  tenor  voice  rang  out  above  the  din,  singing  a  toast. 
It  was  followed  by  a  little  lull  before  the  tumult  drowned 
it  out  again. 

For  a  moment  she  felt  a  sense  of  shock  and  she  could 
not  move.  Then  she  went  on  into  her  room  and  stood 
again  in  the  middle  of  it,  listening.  She  was  no  longer 
weary.  She  was  feverishly  alive,  burning  with  hurts,  re- 
sentments, and  futile  determinations.  She  did  not  know 
why  she  was  hurt,  what  she  was  resentful  at,  or  what  she 
was  determined  to  do.  She  stood  by  the  window  for  some 
minutes  till  these  clashing  pains  diminished  a  little. 

It  took  her  some  time  to  get  hold  of  herself,  and  then 
she  told  herself  she  was  a  fool.  There  was  hardly  a  man 
in  the  town  who  might  not  be  excused  for  letting  go  that 
night.  Mrs.  Benton  had  left  Roger  to  the  overwhelming 
pressure  of  the  occasion  without  a  sign  that  it  worried 
her.  But  still  she  could  not  bear  to  think  of  Dane  as 
drunk.  It  hurt  him  more  than  it  hurt  other  men.  She 
felt  he  hated  himself  afterwards,  that  he  could  not  take 
it  lightly  as  others  did.  But  she  told  herself  the  main 
trouble  was  her  own  imagination,  which  could  not  bear  to 
visualize  him  degenerated  in  any  way  from  the  beautiful 
thing  he  was  to  her  when  he  was  well.  She  could  not  bear, 
either,  the  clouding  in  any  shape  or  form  of  the  spirit 
that  was  in  him.  It  was  her  sense  of  beauty,  rather  than 
her  code  of  behaviour,  that  was  offended.  But  her  sense 
of  beauty  was  perhaps  the  strongest  thing  about  her.  It 


THE  STRANGE  ATTRACTION  237 

was  at  the  back  of  all  her  protests,  all  her  revolts.  And[ 
her  sense  of  fairness  had  many  a  clash  with  it. 

She  got  through  her  window  and  began  to  pace  the 
balcony.  She  stopped  at  times  when  a  louder  burst  of 
laughter  drifted  up  to  her,  or  some  strong  voice  was  raised 
in  a  maudlin  challenge.  She  was  prepared  to  hear  Dane's 
voice  above  the  noise  again,  but  it  did  not  rise  to  her. 
She  tried  to  talk  herself  out  of  her  mood  of  hesitancy  and 
speculation.  She  tried  to  imagine  what  was  going  on 
down  in  those  closed  rooms.  She  would  have  liked  to  see 
how  Mac  managed  his  motley  world  on  an  occasion  like 
this,  to  know  who  was  being  put  out  in  those  rooms  off 
the  yard,  to  know  what  he  did  to  keep  the  constable  out 
of  the  way,  to  know  whether  Doc  Steele  succumbed, 
whether  Bob  was  drunk.  It  was  a  strange  atmosphere, 
and  apart  from  the  servants  she  was  the  only  woman  in 
it.  She  was  surprised  to  find  that  her  thoughts  had  car- 
ried her  out  of  her  first  unhappiness  about  Dane. 

Feeling  hungry  she  wondered  if  she  could  get  unseen 
down  to  the  kitchen.  There  was  a  fire-escape  stair  lead- 
ing from  the  top  hall  outside  down  into  the  yard.  The 
door  was  unlocked  from  the  inside.  She  stole  down  the 
steps.  She  could  hear  men  talking  off  somewhere  in  the 
shadows  of  the  buildings,  but  the  kitchen  was  empty  when 
she  looked  in.  There  was  plenty  of  food  lying  openly 
about,  and  she  knew  she  could  have  what  she  wanted.  She 
got  bread  and  butter,  and  was  cutting  herself  some  cold 
chicken  when  Mac  walked  in  followed  by  Dane. 

"  You  see  I'm  stealing,"  she  said  at  once  to  Mac,  hop- 
ing he  would  think  her  sudden  flush  was  caused  by  the 
idea  of  being  caught. 

The  big  Irishman's  eyes  were  a  little  bloodshot,  but  he 
was  the  coolest  man  in  the  house.  He  got  the  full  sig- 
nificance of  the  way  in  which  Dane  moved  up  to  Valerie. 


238  THE  STRANGE  ATTRACTION 

"  Go  ahead.  Take  all  you  want,"  he  said,  and  turning 
walked  out  and  down  the  hall. 

Dane  took  Valerie  by  the  arm.  "  Where  have  you 
been  ?  "  he  asked  in  an  aggrieved  tone,  as  if  she  had  been 
eluding  him.  "  I  didn't  see  you  at  the  meeting." 

As  she  saw  someone  cross  the  hall  she  drew  quickly 
back.  "  Don't,  please,  Dane.  Someone  might  come  in." 
Her  tone  was  sharper  than  she  meant  it  to  be. 

"  Oh,  you  are  angry  with  me,"  he  said  pathetically. 
"  Don't  be  angry  with  me." 

It  was  astonishing  what  an  appeal  he  could  put  into 
his  voice.  His  eyes  looked  at  her  softened  out  of  their 
accustomed  brilliancy  by  a  slumbrous  cloudiness.  She 
wondered  just  how  conscious  he  was  of  her  and  of  the 
situation. 

"  I'm  not  angry,  Dane." 

"  Yes,  you  are.  I  feel  it.  What  is  it?  "  He  moved 
up  to  her  and  took  her  arm  again. 

.She  saw  the  forms  of  two  men  in  the  hall.  She  thought 
they  were  coming  towards  the  kitchen. 

"  Dane,  please,  somebody  is  coming.  I  cannot  stay  and 
talk  to  you  here."  She  took  up  her  plate.  "  I  must  go. 
Good-night." 

She  hurried  out  of  the  kitchen  by  the  back  door,  half 
hoping  and  half  fearing  that  he  would  follow  her.  But 
he  did  not.  Up  in  her  room  she  tried  not  to  be  too  serious 
about  it.  It  was  nothing  more  than  she  had  known,  noth- 
ing more  than  she  told  herself  she  had  to  accept  with  him 
either  as  a  lover  or  as  a  husband.  She  was  determined 
not  to  let  his  weaknesses  blind  her  to  the  other  qualities 
he  possessed. 

Finding  there  was  hot  water,  she  soothed  herself  with 
a  bath,  ate  her  supper,  and  even  without  the  aid  of  aspirin 
fell  asleep. 


THE  STRANGE  ATTRACTION  239 

III 

When  she  reached  the  office  at  half-past  nine,  very  late 
for  her,  Bob  was  there  furiously  pounding  out  his  report 
of  the  Massey  meeting  and  dinner,  which  Jimmy  took 
sheet  by  sheet  to  the  composing-room.  Bob  gave  Valerie 
rather  a  wan  smile,  but  she  gave  no  sign  that  she  noticed 
the  circles  under  his  eyes.  She  wondered  if  he  and  Dane 
had  met  in  the  bibulous  meanderings  of  the  night,  and 
what  they  had  said  to  each  other.  As  a  matter  of  fact 
they  had  met  at  a  stage  when  all  men  were  swearing 
eternal  friendship  and  finding  the  world  full  of  dear  broth- 
ers. But  this  Valerie  never  knew. 

She  looked  at  the  big  pile  of  telegrams  already  in,  and 
settled  down  to  it.  It  was  a  public  holiday  and  the  place 
did  not  wake  up  till  ten  o'clock.  Then  it  came  to  life  in 
an  hour.  The  morning  trains  came  in  crowded  with  bush 
and  country  people  out  to  take  what  fun  might  be  going 
in  the  town.  The  shops  were  open  for  half  a  day  for  their 
benefit.  As  there  was  a  constant  stream  of  people  going 
by  the  office  Valerie  suggested  they  post  a  bulletin  of  news 
to  draw  attention  to  themselves.  Bob  thought  it  a  fine 
idea,  and  Jimmy  was  called  upon  to  find  a  big  sheet  of 
cardboard  and  to  do  the  pasting.  In  her  clear  hand 
Valerie  wrote  out  in  blue  pencil  the  first  most  interesting 
items.  Then  at  intervals  during  the  day  they  watched 
Jimmy  go  out  with  a  fresh  sheet  when  several  people  had 
collected,  and  flourishing  his  paste  brush  solemnly  cover 
up  the  stale  news  with  the  new,  guying  the  lookers-on  in 
his  own  cheeky  fashion.  The  facts  were  such  as  election 
crowds  feed  on.  It  seemed  that  the  weather  was  generally 
fine  throughout  the  dominion  (the  crowd  thought  this  very 
important  and  discussed  it  from  various  angles),  that  in 
the  cities  especially  a  heavy  vote  was  rolling  up  early, 


240  THE  STRANGE  ATTRACTION 

that  Sir  Joseph  Ward  was  confident  of  victory,  that  Mr. 
Massey  was  confident  of  victory,  that  their  wives  were 
equally  sure  of  victory,  that  the  prohibition  party  was 
sure  of  national  prohibition,  that  labour  was  sure  of  sur- 
prising gains,  that  everybody  was  sure  of  something  or 
other.  And  the  crowd  watching  Jimmy  pasting  this  en- 
couraging information  cheered  and  was  sure  too. 

Valerie  grew  interested  in  spite  of  weariness  in  the  in- 
tensifying of  the  human  spirit  throughout  that  day.  The 
office  glowed  with  faces  leaning  over  the  counter  and  beam- 
ing down  upon  her  and  Bob,  who  had  to  exert  all  their 
good  humour  to  avoid  showing  annoyance  at  the  constant 
interruptions. 

As  she  was  changing  her  dress  before  dinner  she  heard 
steps  come  quickly  to  her  door,  and  then  a  low  knock. 
Throwing  a  wrapper  about  her  she  went  to  it,  opened  it 
a  little  way  and  peered  through.  Dane  stood  there  look- 
ing ill  and  unhappy. 

"  Let  me  come  in,"  he  pleaded,  as  if  it  were  a  desperate 
business. 

She  was  not  sure  whether  he  was  sober  or  not,  and  she 
expected  Bob  to  come  to  his  room  at  any  moment,  but  she 
opened  the  door  at  once,  and  then  closed  it  quietly  behind 
him.  Dane  faced  her  and  looked  at  her  as  if  he  were  ask- 
ing for  his  life.  He  was  fastidiously  shaved,  but  his 
clothes  were  crumpled  as  if  he  had  lain  in  them.  His  white 
skin  showed  patches  of  sallowness  and  his  eyes  were 
haunted  by  a  fear  that  seemed  to  come  out  of  them  and 
twist  his  features.  He  knew  he  had  been  very  drunk  the 
night  before.  And  ever  since  he  had  been  able  to  think 
again,  he  had  been  tortured  by  the  vague  memory  that 
he  had  seen  Valerie  somewhere  in  the  night,  and  that  he 
had  been  rude  to  her,  and  that  she  was  very  angry  with 
him. 


THE  STRANGE  ATTRACTION  241 

Even  if  she  had  been  angry  with  him  she  would  Have 
melted  at  the  misery  in  his  face.  Impulsively  she  flung 
her  arms  about  him  and  crushed  his  face  against  her  own. 

"  Whatever  has  happened  to  you,  Dane?  Cheer  up,  for 
heaven's  sake." 

He  drew  away,  looking  doubtfully  at  her. 

"  Aren't  you  angry  with  me?  "  he  asked,  in  the  manner 
of  a  penitent  child. 

Valerie  had  kicked  herself  more  than  once  that  day  for 
her  manner  in  the  kitchen  the  night  before.  If  she  hadn't 
been  so  tired,  she  told  herself,  she  would  have  handled  the 
situation  more  lightly. 

She  looked  at  him,  seeing  much  more  than  the  reaction 
from  a  night's  drinking  in  his  eyes.  And  whatever  she 
did  or  felt,  she  knew  she  must  not  fail  this  man  in 
moments  when  he  needed  her  understanding  so  desper- 
ately. 

"  I'm  not  angry  with  you,  not  the  least  little  bit.  I've 
nothing  to  be  angry  about.  But  I  am  dreadfully  tired, 
dear.  Perhaps  that  is  what  you  feel." 

She  threw  her  arms  about  him  again  and  put  her  lips 
on  his. 

"  What  is  the  matter,  Dane?  Please  kiss  me,"  she  said, 
wondering  why  he  did  not  respond.  But  he  was  in  a  diffi- 
cult mood,  confused,  bruised  and  sick,  and  hating  himself, 
he  could  not  rise  to  showing  care  for  anybody  else. 

They  heard  Bob  come  into  the  next  room.  Valerie 
wondered  what  she  could  do  with  Dane.  She  hated  to  let 
him  go  from  her  in  the  mood  he  was  in. 

"  Are  you  going  to  stay  here  to-night  ?  "  she  whispered. 

"  No.     I'm  going  home  now." 

"  Can  you  take  me  with  you  and  get  me  back  by  nine?  " 
She  saw  that  he  softened  and  came  nearer  to  her. 

"  Yes ;  will  you  come?  " 


242  THE  STRANGE  ATTRACTION 

"  I  will.  The  break  will  help  me  to  get  through  tHe 
night.  Pick  me  up  the  other  side  of  the  railway  wharf." 

He  looked  better  at  once  and  slipped  quietly  out. 

As  she  walked  along  towards  the  railway  station  to 
meet  him  she  thought  of  the  frenzied  counting  that  had 
now  begun  behind  locked  doors  ah1  over  the  country,  in 
remote  schoolhouses,  little  town  halls,  creameries,  and 
even  private  houses,  where  in  the  scattered  settlements  the 
government  considered  the  convenience  of  those  who  had 
long  distances  to  go.  And  in  the  larger  centres  she  could 
visualize  the  groups  checking  and  rechecking  those  col- 
umns of  figures,  so  important  to  the  careers  of  a  few  men, 
so  unimportant  in  the  great  welter  of  world  affairs.  It 
seemed  funny  that  those  figures  should  matter  so  much. 

She  passed  several  people  riding  and  driving  in,  and  she 
sauntered  slowly  to  let  them  all  go  by  before  she  ran  for 
the  Diana  which  she  could  just  see  hidden  in  the  rushes. 
She  sat  down  in  the  stern  with  Dane  and  put  an  arm 
round  him,  and  did  not  attempt  to  talk.  He  set  his 
engine  at  full  speed.  Round  the  first  turn  they  saw  close 
upon  them  a  big  timber  barque  riding  low,  and  being  towed 
down  on  the  evening  tide,  bound  for  Australia,  the  men  on 
her  decks  curiously  remote  from  the  fuss  of  the  New  Zea- 
land election.  They  would  go  out  to  sea  that  night  oblivi- 
ous of  the  results  that  seemed  so  epoch-making  to  the 
wrought-up  feelings  of  Dargaville. 

The  sight  of  that  stately  vessel  filigreed  against  an 
opal  sky  lifted  part  of  the  cloud  from  Dane's  mind.  As 
he  ran  the  launch  close  past  her  the  friendly  faces  of 
officers  and  seamen  grinned  down  upon  them. 

Then,  oblivious  of  the  fact  that  men  on  the  barque- 
might  be  looking  after  them,  he  put  his  unoccupied  arm 
about  her  and  his  head  against  her  shoulder,  and  felt 
better. 


THE  STRANGE  'ATTRACTION  243 

Before  he  reached  home  he  was  trying  to  forget  him- 
self and  to  think  entirely  of  her,  for  he  saw  how  exhausted 
she  was.  He  put  her  straight  into  his  hammock,  and  it 
was  there  that  she  ate  her  dinner  and  stayed  till  it  was 
time  to  go.  She  felt  a  good  deal  better  by  the  time  he 
landed  her  near  the  railway  wharf. 


rv 

The  News  office  all  in  darkness  seemed  a  strange  place 
to  Valerie  as  she  passed  it.  It  had  been  lit  at  night  for 
so  long.  But  its  part  in  this  drama  was  played.  Aside 
from  the  fussing  of  a  special  night  train  that  had  recently 
come  in,  there  was  no  sign  of  life  about  this  end  of  the 
town.  It  was  from  the  centre  that  the  sounds  of  an  ex- 
cited, waiting  crowd  drifted  along. 

The  election  results  were  to  be  shown  on  a  screen  out- 
side the  second  floor  of  Roger's  store,  which  had  the  great 
advantage,  placed  as  it  was  on  the  corner  of  Queen  and 
River  Streets,  of  facing  the  two  main  ways,  of  being  near 
the  post-office,  and  of  being  only  one  block  away  from  the 
registrar's  office  to  which  the  official  results  all  went.  Sev- 
eral of  the  rooms  on  the  second  floor  had  been  cleared  out 
to  accommodate  Roger's  committee  and  supporters.  It 
was  about  this  building,  and  gazing  feverishly  at  the  screen 
for  the  first  significant  figures,  that  the  largest  crowd 
Dargaville  had  ever  seen  clustered  good-humouredly. 

As  she  walked  on  towards  it  Valerie  heard  those  mild 
preliminary  cheers  accorded  to  the  Royal  Family  and 
popular  statesmen,  whose  pictures  lantern  men  show  be- 
fore the  real  business  of  the  evening  begins.  When  she 
heard  a  louder  and  more  rousing  one  she  wondered  if  she 
had  missed  the  first  big  announcement,  but  she  saw  it  was 
the  cheerful  face  of  Mr.  Massey  that  had  stimulated  the 


1244  THE  STRANGE  ATTRACTION 

extra  roar.  Quickening  her  steps,  she  saw  Jimmy  dasK- 
ing  across  the  street  with  the  first  important  batch  of 
telegrams,  and  in  a  plain  white  envelope  the  registrar's 
local  figures  for  which  the  men  upstairs  were  now  fran- 
tically waiting.  She  darted  after  him  and  seized  his  arm. 

The  boy  was  bursting  with  delightful  importance  as 
the  chief  messenger  of  that  eventful  night.  His  most  re- 
liable runners  were  stationed  at  the  post-office  to  carry  the 
press  news  and  such  private  wires  as  came  to  Roger  from 
his  friends,  but  he  himself  had  the  great  job;  he  carried 
the  official  messages  direct  from  the  registrar  to  Bob,  the 
only  figures  on  which  the  announcements  were  based. 
Jimmy  had  looked  forward  to  this  night  as  the  greatest 
thing  in  his  life,  he  knew  not  why.  He  tried  to  be  cool, 
as  became  a  man  in  a  crisis,  but  Valerie  saw  with  delight 
that  he  could  hardly  contain  within  himself  the  emotions 
that  the  occasion  roused. 

"  What  results,  Jimmy?  "  she  whispered  hoarsely,  as 
they  hurried  together  down  the  side  of  the  building  to  a 
back  entrance. 

"  Nothing  big  out  yet,  Miss  Carr.  But  I  think  this  is 
Dargaville,"  and  reverently  he  indicated  the  plain  white 
envelope. 

They  went  in  by  a  door  carefully  guarded  by  several 
men,  who  smiled  with  the  ready  smile  of  friend  passing 
friend  on  a  day  of  great  matters. 

"  Oh,  it's  grand,  isn't  it?  "  exploded  Jimmy,  half  under 
his  breath.  "  If  only  Benton  and  Massey  win."  And  for 
a  moment  the  awful  possibility  that  they  might  not 
choked  him.  His  heart  was  with  his  paper  and  his  side, 
and  he  knew  that  if  they  lost  his  heart  would  be  broken. 

"  They'll  win  all  right,"  said  Valerie  hopefully,  amused 
to  see  she  was  becoming  an  optimism  herself. 

They  hurried  up  a  narrow  stairway  lit  by  smelly  kero- 


THE  STRANGE  ATTRACTION  245 

sene  lamps  hung  from  big  nails  on  the  wall.  Three  doors 
opened  upon  the  landing  at  the  top  where  several  men 
stood  smoking.  From  all  about  came  the  low  growl  of 
men's  voices,  and  the  din  of  women's  pitched  high  and 
toned  with  nervous  repression.  The  large  front  room, 
where  the  two  men  who  worked  the  lantern  were  the  centre 
of  attention,  was  filled  with  friends  of  Roger  and  the 
committee.  Through  another  door  Valerie  caught  a 
glimpse  of  a  supper  table,  of  baskets  and  piles  of  sand- 
wiches, of  coffee  urns,  of  cases  of  bottles,  of  long  rows  of 
cheap  tumblers,  and  of  a  number  of  those  devoted  women 
satellites  who  are  always  ready  to  get  their  little  thrill  on 
such  occasions  by  being  what  they  call  '**  the  faithful  few." 

The  men  on  the  landing  swept  aside  for  Valerie  and 
Jimmy  who  swung  open  the  third  door  and  plunged  head 
first  into  a  little  room — the  real  centre  of  Dargaville  that 
night. 

Sitting  at  a  table  facing  the  door  were  Bob  and  Roger 
Benton,  with  large  blank  sheets  of  paper  and  a  small  pile 
of  unimportant  messages  in  front  of  them.  Standing 
about  were  Bolton  and  Allison  and  other  members  of  the 
committee,  two  prominent  sheep  owners,  and  several  of 
the  biggest  Massey  supporters  from  near-by  towns.  Va- 
lerie looked  for  George  Rhodes,  and  then  remembered  that 
he  was  watchdog  for  Roger  at  the  registrar's  office.  So 
far  Mrs.  Benton  and  other  women  privileged  to  enter  here 
had  not  come  in.  The  people  now  in  this  inner  sanctum 
were  all  swayed  by  anticipative  excitement. 

Bob  seized  the  batch  from  Jimmy's  hand,  instantly 
perceived  the  plain  envelope,  dropped  the  others  and  tore 
it  open. 

"  Here  it  is,"  he  said,  and  a  dead  silence  followed. 

Jimmy  meanwhile,  realizing  his  business,  had  shot  back 
through  the  door  and  closed  it  behind  him. 


1246  THE  STRANGE  ATTRACTION 

Everybody  watched  Bob  who  jotted  down  figures  and 
ifrowned  over  them.  At  last  he  raised  his  face. 

K  You  lead  here  by  237,  Benton.  But  the  figures  repre- 
sent far  more  than  this  town.  The  beggars  have  come 
here  from  other  places  to  vote.  That  will  throw  us  out 
now.  We  don't  know  where  they  have  come  from.  But 
there  it  is,  a  good  lead."  He  handed  Roger  the  paper. 

Those  present  took  it  in  various  ways,  doubtfully  or 
enthusiastically,  as  was  their  disposition,  but  all  agreed 
it  was  a  good  start.  Valerie  sat  down  beside  Bob  and 
helped  him  to  open  and  check  the  other  items. 

It  is  the  number  and  the  smallness  of  the  returns  in 
country  electorates  that  provide  in  any  closely  contested 
election  a  few  hours'  wild  fun  for  the  waiting  crowds. 
There  may  often  be  no  more  than  a  dozen  votes  recorded 
in  a  small  booth  on  a  gumfield.  These  are  easily  counted, 
but  the  result  has  to  be  got  to  a  post-office  perhaps  ten 
miles  away,  and  the  thing  to  do  is  to  get  it  there  before 
the  congestion  starts  up  on  the  main  lines,  because  once 
the  big  places  begin  to  send  out  their  returns  the  little 
ones  have  to  wait.  And  this  waiting  throws  a  number  of 
small  but  very  telling  results,  that  have  been  counted  in 
the  first  quarter  of  an  hour,  right  out  of  reckoning  till 
two  or  three  in  the  morning.  Roger  had  the  largest  and 
most  scattered  electorate  in  the  whole  country,  and  the 
bulk  of  his  figures  were  to  come  from  little  places.  And 
only  a  dozen  of  these  small  counts  had  managed  to  get 
through  to  Dargaville  before  the  wires  began  to  rush 
through  the  leads  and  prospects  of  men  all  over  the  do- 
minion. 

Valerie  and  Bob  opened  and  counted  and  checked  these, 
and  added  them  to  Roger's  local  majority.  This  started 
him  off  with  a  lead  of  264,  and  half  the  room  escorted 
the  slip  for  the  lantern  into  the  front  and  waited  to  see 


THE  STRANGE  ATTRACTION  247 

the  effect  on  the  crowd.  Roger  moved  at  once  to  his  wife 
who  stood  near  the  window  and  whispered  the  first  total 
into  her  ear.  They  gave  each  other  a  warm  and  hopeful 
look. 

The  operator  received  a  great  deal  of  attention  as  he 
wrote  the  figures  on  his  slide  and  slipped  it  into  place. 
Then  from  the  people  outside  there  went  up  a  heartening 
roar  of  approval. 

"  They're  with  you,  Roger,  old  man,  they're  with  you," 
said  Allison  hoarsely,  slapping  his  chief  on  the  tack. 

Then  back  to  the  little  room  they  all  went  to  await 
Jimmy's  next  appearance. 

Through  the  door  he  came  as  if  shot  from  a  gun,  charg- 
ing Bob  with  out-thrust  hands  so  that  not  a  fraction  of 
a  second  be  lost,  and  back  through  the  door  he  slid  with 
the  precision  of  machinery.  Grins  of  appreciation  fol- 
lowed him.  More  than  one  of  them  were  to  remember 
Jimmy  as  one  of  the  spectacles  of  that  night. 

Bob  and  Valerie  halved  the  messages,  tossing  aside  at 
once  those  that  related  to  other  electorates  till  they  should 
be  done  with  their  own. 

"  Aratapu,"  said  Valerie,  jotting  down  numbers. 

"  And  Te  Koperu,"  said  Bob. 

There  was  a  minute  heavy  with  anxiety  while  tEey 
worked.  These  two  places  might  tell  the  final  tale. 

"You  lead  now  by  198."  Bob  checked  again.  "Yes, 
that's  right,  198." 

The  men  looked  solemnly  at  each  other.  Roger  Hao! 
hoped  that  his  two  towns  would  give  him  a  bigger  lead 
than  that  over  Mobray's  stronghold,  for  he  was  afraid  the 
farmer  vote  would  come  nowhere  near  balancing  the  la- 
bour vote  in  the  bushes  and  the  mills. 

Bob  and  Valerie  went  on  opening  the  btHer  envelopes. 
Whatever  happened  they  had  to  keep  their  wits  clear. 


248  THE  STRANGE  ATTRACTION 

**  Massey's  in,"  said  Bob. 

That  caused  no  excitement.  Mr.  Massey  was  always 
in,  as  far  as  his  own  electorate  was  concerned,  and  the 
putting  up  of  a  prohibition  candidate  against  him  this 
time  had  been  a  joke. 

"  Haines  leads  by  a  big  majority  in  Whangarei,"  read 
.Valerie. 

"  That  means  he's  in,"  said  Roger,  wishing  it  were  as 
sure  for  himself. 

They  sent  these  results  to  the  lantern  and  listened  to 
the  cheers  that  went  up.  It  was  a  Massey  night  sure 
enough. 

Then  came  Jimmy  again  through  that  snapping  door. 

And  a  deep  gloom  settled  upon  the  little  room  for  the 
first  lot  of  bush  returns  put  Mobray  ahead  by  thirty-six. 

"  Oh,  well,"  said  Roger  valiantly,  "  that's  all  right.  I 
expected  that.  I  won't  carry  the  bushes.  Put  it  out. 
We've  got  to  take  it." 

And  it  went  to  the  lantern,  to  be  followed  by  some 
scattered  cheers,  but  mostly  by  hisses  and  groans. 

"  You've  got  the  crowd  here,  old  man,"  repeated  Alli- 
son consolingly. 

It  was  now  half-past  ten,  and  the  fun  was  begun  in 
earnest.  The  next  lot  of  mixed  farm  and  bush  votes  put 
Roger  ahead  by  seventeen,  and  the  place  rocked  with  the 
gambling  fever  as  the  men  inside  juggled  with  the  ma- 
jorities to  make  fun  for  those  outside.  As  the  little  totals 
in  favour  first  of  one  and  then  of  the  other  seesawed  back 
and  forth  on  the  screen  the  crowd  went  off  its  head,  drunk 
not  with  liquor,  for  the  excitement  here  kept  everyone  out 
"of  the  hotels,  but  with  the  frenzy  of  a  big  race. 

Bob  and  Valerie  were  running  through  a  lot  of  Auck- 
land wires  when  Mac  opened  the  door.  He  came  in,  fol- 
lowed by  Doctor  Steele  and  Father  Ryan.  This  was  the 


THE  STRANGE  ATTRACTION  240 

first  indication  that  the  little  priest  had  voted  for  him, 
and  Roger  was  surprised,  for  Sir  Joseph  Ward  was  a 
Catholic,  but  church  votes,  like  all  others,  could  not  be 
coerced  in  any  given  direction. 

"  Not  too  good,  eh?  "  said  Mac  to  Roger. 

"  It's  going  to  be  damned  close.  The  bush  settles  it 
now." 

"  You'll  get  more  of  the  bush  than  you  think,"  growled 
Mac. 

"  I'm  sure  I  hope  so." 

Then  Bob  read  out  a  number  of  names  of  Massey  men 
who  were  safely  in,  and  the  possibility,  now  becoming 
more  likely  with  every  new  set  of  figures,  that  Massey 
would  come  out  with  a  majority,  added  to  the  tempest  of 
feeling  surging  round  them.  It  would  be  awful  to  lose 
here  if  the  party  won  everywhere  else. 

"  Sloan  is  leading  well  for  the  Bay  of  Islands,"  Valerie 
read  from  her  last  envelope. 

"  Oh,  I  must  get  in,"  groaned  Roger. 

Valerie  was  succumbing  herself  now  to  the  swell  of  emo- 
tion about  her.  She  thought  while  they  waited  of  Dane, 
and  wondered  if  he  were  in  bed,  if  he  were  asleep,  utterly 
aloof  from  this  madness,  utterly  indifferent  to  the  result. 
But  she  did  wish  he  could  have  been  there  to  enjoy  with 
her  the  drama  of  it,  the  palpitating  entrances  and  exits 
of  Jimmy  bursting  with  his  own  grand  and  glorious  feel- 
ing as  the  Mercury  of  a  cataclysmic  night. 

At  half-past  two  the  vibrations  in  the  little  room  were 
almost  too  painful  to  be  borne.  There  were  only  six  re- 
turns to  come.  At  that  moment  Roger  was  leading  by 
twenty-one,  and  of  the  last  places  three  were  country  and 
three  were  bush. 

As  for  the  outside  world,  it  was  about  certain  now  that 
Ward  was  down  and  Massey  riding  to  victory. 


250  THE  STRANGE  ATTRACTION 

There  was  an  ominous  silence  about  the  counting  table, 
and  eyes  wandered  jumpily  watching  for  Jimmy's  next 
appearance.  They  all  started  at  sounds  beyond  the  door, 
and  when  the  boy  did  appear  lungs  went  flat  for  want  of 
air.  Two  of  the  next  three  local  returns  were  country 
and  one  was  bush.  They  left  Roger  with  a  lead  of  thirty- 
seven. 

Groans  went  up  as  they  thought  they  were  likely  to 
lose  by  so  little.  The  last  country  result  was  known  to 
be  very  small,  only  about  a  dozen,  while  the  bush  was 
probably  a  hundred.  They  could  not  tell  now. 

Roger  buried  his  face  in  his  hands. 

Bob  went  on  opening  the  Auckland  telegrams. 

*'  By  Jove !  The  Opposition's  in !  Massey's  got  a  ma- 
jority of  four  certain  seats,  with  others  leading  well! " 

"  And  Haines  and  Sloan  are  both  in,"  added  Valerie. 
.  Even  the  personal  was  forgotten  at  this  great  news. 
His  friends  said  the  next  day  that  Roger  was  sublime  in 
his  darkest  hour.  He  forgot  that  he  was  about  to  lose 
and  led  the  cheers  for  the  new  premier.  For  several  min- 
utes the  room  was  in  an  uproar,  and  the  people  outside 
thought  it  meant  Roger's  success  and  heads  were  stuck  in 
enquiringly.  The  excitement  spread  fast  throughout  the 
building.  At  first  men  could  not  believe  that  the  old 
Liberal  Party,  with  its  extraordinary  record  of  twenty- 
*one  consecutive  years  in  power,  could  possibly  be  down. 
And  when  the  news  was  put  up  on  the  screen  hysterical 
roars  shook  the  town.  There  were  many  in  the  crowd  who 
•cared  more  for  this  than  for  the  return  even  of  their  local 
candidate.  The  picture  of  Mr.  Massey,  with  the  words 
*'  premier  of  New  Zealand,"  scrawled  in  underneath,  was 
shown  again,  and  it  was  a  matter  for  astonishment  that 
.anyone  had  voices  left  to  welcome  it. 

But  in  the  little  room  the  success  of  the  party  only 


THE  STRANGE  ATTRACTION  251 

threw  into  more  tragic  light  the  possible  failure  of  poor 
Roger,  who  was  trembling  like  a  boy. 

The  minutes  dragged  by.  It  was  the  longest  quarter 
of  an  hour  that  any  one  of  them  had  ever  known.  The 
men  gathered  round  Roger  felt  almost  as  badly  as  he  did. 
As  for  him,  if  he  had  been  waiting  to  be  shot  he  could 
hardly  have  felt  worse.  He  had  talked  optimistically  but 
not  boastfully  throughout  the  campaign,  he  had  borne  a 
manner  considerably  chastened  by  the  difficulties  in  his 
path,  personally  he  had  waged  a  clean  fight,  and  only  he 
knew  how  much  he  hoped  to  win.  As  they  stood  waiting, 
Mrs.  Benton  with  her  lips  trembling,  moved  beside  him 
and  put  her  arm  through  his. 

After  an  eternity,  in  which  no  one  could  trust  his  voice 
to  break  the  strained  silence,  the  door  moved  and  Jimmy 
shot  through  it  as  if  he  were  beginning  and  not  ending 
his  dashes  for  Bob's  hand. 

Almost  too  excited  now  to  see,  both  Bob  and  Valerie 
sorted  fast.  She  was  the  first  to  tear  open  one  of  the 
envelopes.  It  was  from  the  country,  and  gave  Roger  a 
lead  of  forty-three.  But  it  was  Bob  they  all  watched, 
and  he  found  the  last  and  fateful  news  at  the  bottom  of 
his  pile.  There  was  a  breathless  silence,  while  everyone 
looked  for  a  change  in  his  expression. 

But  Bob  did  not  dare  to  be  too  hopeful. 

"  For  God's  sake,"  began  Bolton. 

"  Keep  calm,"  replied  Bob  coolly.  "  We  mustn't  have 
any  mistakes  on  this." 

He  checked  and  rechecked.  Then  he  bounded  to  his 
feet. 

"  You're  in,"  he  shouted.  "  It's  a  majority  for  you. 
In  by  seventy-three.  Hurrah !  Hurrah !  " 

And  at  that  moment  George  Rhodes  came  through  the 
door  with  the  same  official  final  from  the  registrar. 


262  THE  STRANGE  ATTRACTION 

Valerie  was  amazed  at  the  scene  that  followed.  It 
seemed  to  her  that  everyone  in  that  room  went  suddenly 
mad,  and  whether  she  was  too  tired  or  too  detached  to 
go  mad  too  she  did  not  know.  The  committee  rushed 
Roger  and  wrung  his  hands,  and  rushed  Mrs.  Benton  and 
wrung  hers,  while  she  laughed  and  cried  alternately,  and 
they  sprang  at  Bob  from  all  the  corners  of  the  room,  and 
then  she  found  herself  being  seized  and  whirled  about. 
Men  jumped  on  the  chairs  and  down  again  and  danced 
on  their  hats  and  yelled  and  cheered  as  only  a  crazy  lot 
of  Englishmen  can  cheer.  Then  Bob  calmed  himself  to 
write  the  last  screen  announcement  for  the  night.  He  did 
not  trouble  to  open  the  other  envelopes. 

"  The  labour  vote  split.  The  labour  vote  split.  That 
did  it,"  said  Roger,  dancing  about. 

"  I  thought  it  would,"  said  Mac,  laconically,  grinning 
&t  him.  "  I've  heard  talk  of  it  about  the  bars  for  some 
time.  Barrington  got  them.  He  knew  how  to  handle 
them,  and  they  like  the  way  he  goes  around." 

Valerie  was  near  enough  to  hear  this,  but  she  did  not 
take  her  eyes  off  Jimmy  who  to  the  delight  of  two  farm- 
ers was  trying  to  stand  on  his  head  on  a  chair. 

Bob  led  the  way  to  the  front  room,  yelling  the  news  as 
he  went,  so  that  everybody  crowded  in  to  congratulate 
Roger  and  his  wife.  They  were  almost  too  excited  to  care 
about  the  raucous  cheers  that  the  crowd  still  had  energy 
to  give.  And  there  were  more  than  the  roars  of  delight 
'dying  and  swelling  upon  the  still  morning  air.  There 
were  loud  and  insistent  cries  for  a  speech  repeated  from 
group  to  group.  Members  of  his  committee  pushed 
Roger  through  the  window.  When  the  wild  ovation  had 
subsided  he  tried  to  speak.  But  he  could  only  blurt  out 
incoherent  thanks,  a  promise  to  do  his  best  to  be  worthy 
of  the  great  honour  done  him,  and  a  tribute  to  the  decent 


THE  STRANGE  ATTRACTION  250 

campaign  run  by  his  opponent.  Then  calling  dramatically 
for  cheers  for  Mr.  Massey,  the  new  goyernment,  the  King 
and  the  Empire,  he  stumbled  back  into  the  arms  of  his 
friends. 


Valerie  now  meant  to  sneak  out,  but  a  hint  to  Mrs. 
Benton  on  the  subject  was  received  with  as  much  amazed 
protest  as  if  she  had  declared  her  intention  to  commit 
murder. 

"  My  dear,  you  simply  must  stay  to  drink  his  health. 
And  it's  champagne,  you  know." 

This  was  the  kind  of  thing  that  always  made  Valerie 
want  to  put  her  thumb  to  her  nose,  but  she  stayed,  mean- 
ing to  slip  away  after  the  first  toast. 

The  supper  room  was  soon  so  crowded  that  it  was  im- 
possible to  use  the  chairs  set  round  it.  There  was  stand- 
ing room  only.  But  the  leaders  of  the  campaign  grouped 
themselves  about  the  table.  Valerie  manoeuvred  herself 
into  the  background,  but  she  was  found  by  George  Rhodes, 
and  dragged  to  the  front  again.  There  was  much  pop- 
ping of  corks  amidst  hilarity.  And  then  there  was  a  sus- 
pensive pause  as  the  glasses  were  filled. 

But  before  Bob,  who  had  been  deputed  to  act  as  an 
informal  toastmaster,  could  make  a  start,  Roger  himself 
got  on  to  a  chair.  Excited  though  he  was,  he  had  clear 
in  mind  what  he  wanted  to  say.  The  mere  waving  of  his 
glass  provoked  an  outburst,  and  when  it  had  subsided  a 
little  he  began. 

"  Friends,  I  want  to  propose  a  toast  to  come  before 
the  King  and  the  Empire  and  the  party  and  all  the  rest 
of  us.  This  election  has  been  won  for  me  by  the  splendid 
work,  the  splendid  devotion  of  many  people.  Compari- 
sons are  odious,  my  friends,  but  for  some  time  my  com- 


254  THE  STRANGE  ATTRACTION 

mittee  and  I  have  felt  that  if  we  won  there  was  one  thing 
that  counted  more  than  anything  else,  and  now  that  we 
have  won  I  want  that  thing  to  know  what  we  think  of  it. 
I'm  sure  you  all  know  that  I  mean  the  work  turned  out 
by  our  little  paper,  the  Dargaville  News." 

He  was  interrupted  by  a  spontaneous  burst  of  applause 
while  every  head  turned  to  look  at  Valerie.  She  felt  her- 
self getting  light-headed  and  clenched  her  hands  as  Roger 
went  on. 

"  And  we  know  who  has  done  the  hardest  work,  kept 
the  longest  hours,  and  been  the  inspiration  of  that  office. 
Our  thanks  and  gratitude  to  you,  Miss  Valerie  Carr, 
who " 

Valerie  dropped  back  amazed,  confused,  and  over- 
whelmed by  the  cheer  that  drowned  out  the  rest  of  Roger's 
remarks.  In  a  mist  she  saw  excited  friendly  arms  waving 
glasses,  and  excited  friendly  faces  beaming  down  upon 
her — Mrs.  Benton's  struggling  to  keep  back  tears,  even 
those  of  Mrs.  Bolton,  Mrs.  Harris  and  Mrs.  Allison  ob- 
livious of  the  slights  of  the  past,  Father  Ryan's  a  warm 
glow,  Mac's  a  shrewd  and  guarded  grin,  Bob's  a  generous 
pride,  Jimmy's  one  shining  adoration,  and  the  faces  of 
other  men  she  knew  and  of  men  she  did  not  know  one 
broad  smile  of  approval.  Then  somebody  cried  "  Speech," 
and  the  word  was  repeated  to  the  beat  of  feet  and  the 
tapping  of  sticks.  The  whole  crowd  was  wound  up  now 
and  nothing  would  stop  it. 

Valerie  looked  round  desperately.  Did  they  expect  her 
to  make  a  speech?  She  had  never  made  a  speech  in  her 
life.  She  felt  an  awful  funk.  She  did  not  realize  that  it 
did  not  matter  in  the  least  what  she  said.  She  found 
herself  being  lifted  bodily  off  the  ground  by  George 
Rhodes,  while  Bob  drew  out  a  chair  for  her  to  be  set 
upon.  Somehow  she  got  to  her  feet  upon  it,  while  the 


THE  STRANGE  ATTRACTION  255 

room  swung  round  her  for  a  minute,  and  the  cheers  and 
the  stamping  went  on.  She  ran  her  hand  over  her  fore- 
head and  tried  to  do  something  with  her  paralyzed  throat. 
Her  voice  was  hoarse  enough  as  it  was  with  weeks  of 
proof-reading,  and  she  was  afraid  she  would  never  be 
heard  even  if  she  could  find  something  to  say.  Then  she 
grew  calm  suddenly  and  raised  her  hand.  And  a  semblance 
of  silence  settled  upon  the  room. 

"  My  dear  people,"  she  began  informally,  "  I  can't  take 
this  for  myself 

"  Speak  for  yourself.  We'll  come  to  the  others  pres- 
ently," interrupted  Roger,  amidst  laughter  and  more  ap- 
plause. 

"  But  I  haven't  done  anything  except  enjoy  it.  It  was 
a  lot  of  fun.  And  I  want  to  tell  you  it  could  never  have 
been  done  without  our  staff.  They  did  the  hard 
and  dirty  work  without  any  hope  of  honour  and  glory. 
They  have  been  perfectly  fine,  never  a  grumble  out  of 
them,  I'll  take  it  for  them,  the  men,  the  women  and  the 
boys- 

She  looked  down  at  Jimmy  as  she  said  it,  and  to  his 
embarrassment  he  got  a  great  cheer  all  to  himself,  while 
Valerie  slipped  down  into  her  chair,  leaving  out  the  thanks 
she  had  meant  to  add.  But  the  audience  did  not  notice 
the  omission  as  it  applauded  her  again. 

Roger  was  still  standing  on  his  chair.  "  To  continue 
with  the  News.  I  ask  all  present  to  drink  to  the  two 
gentlemen  connected  with  that  paper.  I  don't  have  to 
tell  anyone  present  of  the  luck  we  had  in  getting  Mr. 
Barrington,  the  most  brilliant  journalist  in  the  country, 
to  help  us  out,  or  of  the  luck  we  had  in  getting  a  man 
like  Mr.  Lorrimer,  who  after  being  ill  for  six  weeks  could 
come  back  and  make  up  for  it  in  three."  Roger  bowed 
to  Bob  and  drank. 


256  THE  STRANGE  ATTRACTION 

The  toast  was  drunk  with  the  wildest  enthusiasm,  for 
Bob  was  the  most  popular  man  in  the  place,  and  at  that 
moment  no  one  grudged  the  other  his  share  in  the  glory 
of  the  hour.  Valerie  dare  not  look  at  anyone  but  Bob,  for 
she  felt  eyes  were  upon  her  as  well  as  on  him.  He  got  to 
his  feet  steadily  enough  and  spoke  lightly. 

"  Mr.  Benton  and  friends.  I  certainly  can't  claim  any- 
thing on  the  work  of  the  News.  And  as  Mr.  Barrington 
does  not  appear  to  be  present  I'm  glad  to  have  this  chance 
to  pay  a  tribute  to  his  work  on  this  campaign.  He  con- 
tributed more  ideas  than  all  the  rest  of  us  put  together. 
I  don't  think  there  is  any  question  that  his  arguments 
and  influence  split  the  labour  vote,  and  he  has  made  our 
little  News  famous  all  over  the  country.  And  I  agree 
with  Miss  Carr  that  the  News  has  been  a  happy  family 
on  this  job.  And  I'm  sorry  I  hadn't  more  to  do  with  it. 
My  part  has  been  a  very  easy  one.  There  was  nothing 
hard  about  going  round  with  a  candidate  whom  every- 
body liked,  talking  stuff  that  everybody  seemed  to  believe. 
But  I  thank  you  just  the  same." 

Valerie  slipped  down  again  into  her  chair.  It  seemed 
to  her  there  was  a  deeper  note  in  the  applause  that  greeted 
these  words,  but  no  one,  she  thought,  could  have  any  idea 
what  a  triumph  of  character  and  decency  that  little 
speech  was.  She  felt  again  that  eyes  were  turned  from 
Bob  to  her,  and  then  she  heard  his  voice  in  a  different 
tone  roaring  out  the  toast  of  the  evening,  "  To  Roger 
Benton,  the  successful  candidate,  the  new  member  for 
Waitemata." 

In  the  din  that  followed,  Valerie  worked  her  way  from 
the  table. 


CHAPTER  XV 


ONE  fine  dawn  in  the  beginning  of  the  following 
January  the  Diana  ran  out  of  the  mouth  of  the 
Wairoa  into  the  gray  flat  expanses  of  the 
Kaipara  Harbour  that  stretched  away  in  all  directions 
into  blurred  horizons.  Dane  sat  alone  on  the  stern  seat, 
wearing  a  light  tweed  coat  over  his  old  navy  suit,  for 
though  there  were  already  indications  that  the  day  would 
be  hot,  the  night  damp  still  lingered  on  the  river  and  a 
chill  came  off  the  sea.  He  was  hatless,  and  the  little  breeze 
made  by  the  launch  stirred  his  hair.  He  looked  weary,  for 
he  had  been  up  all  night,  but  his  skin  had  a  healthy  tan 
upon  it,  and  his  eyes  had  the  light  of  a  man  bent  upon  a 
promising  pilgrimage. 

He  looked  away  towards  the  heads  where  three  timber 
vessels  lay,  black  shapes  against  the  tan  cliffs,  waiting  for 
the  tugs  that  would  take  them  out  over  the  dangerous 
bar.  In  the  world  of  low  shores  and  fleeting  fog  there 
was  not  a  sign  of  another  moving  thing.  As  he  turned 
the  Diana  round  a  sand-bank  towards  land  again,  heading 
for  the  rather  uninteresting  shore  that  lay  between  the 
moulhs  of  two  rivers,  the  gorgeous  fan  of  crimson  that  had 
formed  in  the  east  burst  through  a  bank  of  low-lying 
leaden  clouds,  stretched  itself  out  into  boundless  space, 
and  lost  itself  in  a  diffused  glow  in  the  pale  luminousness 
of  the  clear  ether  above.  Dane  looked  up  at  it,  enjoying 
the  idea  that  he  had  the  picture  to  himself. 

He  peered  ahead  into  the  little  cabin  where  Valerie  lay 

257 


258  THE  STRANGE  ATTRACTION 

asleep  between  two  possum  rugs,  debating  as  to  whether 
he  should  wake  her  to  see  it.  But  he  decided  to  let  her 
sleep  on.  Then  he  turned  the  Diana  into  the  mouth  of 
the  Otamatea  River,  the  Wairoa's  neighbouring  waterway. 

This  dawn  journey  was  the  beginning  of  a  honeymoon 
planned  since  Valerie's  recovery  from  the  election.  Having 
given  way  in  the  larger  issue  by  consenting  to  go  through 
the  ceremony,  Valerie  demanded  that  she  have  her  %  own 
way  about  some  things  connected  with  it.  She  would 
never  have  agreed  to  marry  Dane  in  any  ordinary  fashion. 
The  affair  had  to  be  served  up  to  her  as  romance  and 
adventure,  as  far  as  possible  removed  from  the  vulgar 
eyes  of  the  world  and  the  dull  ways  of  convention.  She 
would  have  in  connection  with  it  none  of  the  trappings  of 
the  social  world.  She  had  no  time  to  arrange  for  a  trous- 
seau. She  refused  an  engagement  ring,  and  swore  she 
would  never  wear  the  wedding  badge  of  servitude.  Dane 
was  astonished  to  find  in  all  this  how  deeply  the  wordy 
paraphernalia  of  a  conventional  set  had  antagonized  her, 
and  amused  to  see,  as  he  continually  reminded  her,  that 
she  gave  it  a  significance  it  did  not  deserve.  However,  he 
let  her  talk.  Without  saying  anything  about  it,  he  or- 
dered clothes  for  her  from  Sydney,  for  he  demanded  that 
love  be  adorned  in  fine  raiment.  And  he  gave  in  to  her 
in  the  end  on  the  matter  of  having  the  marriage  kept  se- 
cret as  long  as  she  chose.  They  had  had  considerable 
argument  about  this. 

"  I  wish  to  go  on  as  I  should  if  we  did  not  have  the 
ceremony,  Dane.  I  want  to  stay  on  the  paper.  I  want 
to  go  on  earning  my  own  living.  I  can't  sit  about  in 
your  house  doing  nothing.  I  should  be  bored  to  death 
in  a  month.  At  least  that's  how  I  feel  now.  Of  course, 
in  three  months'  time  I  may  be  feeling  differently.  But 
now  I  want  the  work.  I  don't  want  love  to  become  a 


THE  STRANGE  ATTRACTION  259 

habit.  It  will  be  so  wonderful  to  come  to  you  for  those 
week-ends." 

"  Yes,  it  will.    But  it  won't  help  to  keep  the  secret." 

"  Well,  let's  see  how  long  we  can  keep  it.  There's  go- 
ing to  be  a  row,  of  course.  But  I've  promised  you  that 
when  the  row  comes,  if  it's  going  to  hurt  you,  I  shall  tell. 
I  don't  care  whether  dad  helped  you  or  not,  I  don't  see 
what  that  has  to  do  with  us,  or  our  private  lives.  If  he 
ever  presumes  to  talk  morals  to  us  I'll  tell  him  something 
that  will  shut  him  up." 

"  Sh!  You  everlasting  spitfire !  Have  it  your  own  way. 
What  I  care  about  is  that  you  love  me,  and  of  course  you 
must  love  me  in  your  own  way.  But  I  don't  mind  telling 
you  I  intend  to  change  you  a  little." 

She  had  looked  at  him  with  a  smile.  "  I  have  a  sus- 
picion that  you  will  change  me  far  more  than  I  shall 
change  you.  Love  has  done  all  it  can  to  you,  and  I'm 
just  beginning  with  it.  I  have  no  idea  what  it  will  do  to 
me." 

"  I  don't  think  love  has  done  all  it  can  to  me,"  he  had 
replied  softly.  "  There  are  things  about  it  I  have  never 
had,  and  I'm  hoping  you  can  give  them  to  me." 

But  so  far  he  had  not  been  able  to  move  her  out  of  her 
determination  to  go  back  to  her  work  on  the  paper.  It 
was  not  only  that  she  wanted  to  be  occupied,  to  be  getting 
ahead  towards  a  career,  but  she  wanted  to  earn  her  own 
money.  She  had  never  mentioned  the  subject  of  finance 
to  Dane.  She  had  not  the  faintest  idea  whether  he  meant 
to  give  her  an  allowance  or  intermittent  presents  of  cash, 
and  until  he  did  so  she  would  never  have  brought  up  the 
Subject.  But  her  economic  freedom,  the  thing  for  which 
she  had  fought  and  bled,  was  something  she  would  never 
give  up  to  anybody. 

The  lovers  had  laid  elaborate  plans  to  cover  their  mar- 


260  THE  STRANGE  ATTRACTION 

riage  and  disappearance.  It  was  quite  easy  for  Dane, 
whose  ties  were  casual  and  whose  correspondence  was  ir- 
regular. He  departed  for  Auckland  in  the  middle  of  De- 
cember, gave  the  paper  for  which  he  wrote  his  real  address 
in  confidence,  but  told  men  he  chanced  to  meet  that  he 
was  heading  for  the  South  Island  and  a  summer  about  the 
Otago  Sounds,  gave  a  Wellington  address  for  his  mail, 
which  was  to  be  redirected  from  there  back  to  the  Ota- 
matea,  and  then  he  doubled  by  devious  ways  back  on  his 
tracks  to  his  home,  and  began  a  series  of  night  journeys 
to  prepare  the  camp  he  had  visioned  in  his  mind. 

Valerie's  intriguing  had  involved  two  reliable  friends, 
Viva  and  Ned  Landon,  who,  as  luck  would  have  it,  were 
wandering  in  the  Far  North  above  the  Hokianga  harbour 
out  of  the  reach  of  telegrams  and  regular  mails.  She 
gave  out  that  she  was  to  go  with  them  on  a  riding  and 
walking  tour,  and  so  it  was  that  when  Bob  saw  her  off 
one  morning  in  the  direction  of  Tangiteroria  he  had  no 
suspicion  that  she  would  get  no  further  than  the  old  mis- 
sion station.  He  only  wondered  if  Dane  too  were  up  in 
the  North  somewhere.  Valerie  had  arranged  for  her  mail 
to  go  to  the  Bay  of  Islands  and  to  be  redirected  from 
there  to  the  Otamatea.  And  she  had  taken  the  extra  pre- 
caution of  telling  her  family  that  she  was  too  tired  to 
write  letters  and  that  they  could  expect  news  when  they 
got  it. 

II 

Dane  had  at  least  had  his  own  way  about  the  choice 
of  a  spot.  Valerie  had  begged  merely  that  it  be  some- 
where by  the  sea.  And  he  had  chosen  a  place  he  had  dis- 
covered the  summer  before  while  cruising  about  the  two 
beautiful  rivers  that  run  with  the  Wairoa  into  the  Kai- 
para  harbour  on  the  northern  side,  chosen  it  not  only  for 


THE  STRANGE  ATTRACTION  261 

the  sake  of  its  own  beauty,  but  because  it  was  within  easy 
reach  of  the  one  man  he  could  trust  to  perform  the  cere- 
mony and  keep  it  quiet. 

*'  Are  you  sure  of  him?  "  Valerie  had  asked  doubtfully. 

**  I  would  trust  David  Bruce  with  anything,  even  as  a 
private  person.  And  as  a  Justice  of  the  Peace  he  is  like 
a  lawyer  or  a  priest.  They  call  him  Strong  Box  up  there 
because  they  say  he  knows  some  strange  secrets,  and  be- 
cause nothing  you  ever  put  into  him  comes  out  till  you 
take  it  out  yourself." 

And  Valerie  was  very  glad  long  before  December  was 
over  that  she  could  leave  all  the  details  to  Dane  and  sim- 
ply be  prepared  like  a  child  to  be  surprised  and  delighted 
with  each  day  as  it  came  along. 

When  Dane  had  gone  some  three  miles  up  the  Ota- 
matea  River,  between  the  bare  and  wind-swept  wastes  about 
the  harbour,  he  turned  the  nose  of  the  Diana  round  a 
grass-covered  headland  on  his  right  and  let  her  run  on 
her  momentum  into  a  little  bay,  a  perfect  arch  of  white 
sand,  that  sloped  gently  into  clear  water  above  a  hard 
sandy  bottom,  a  shore  as  different  as  it  could  be  from  the 
steep,  soft  banks  of  the  muddy  Wairoa.  On  a  flat  that 
curved  with  the  bay's  sweep  were  the  remains  of  an  old 
house,  long  since  tumbled  into  a  heap  of  ruins,  and  lichen- 
spotted  and  overgrown  with  convolvulus,  honeysuckle  and 
degenerated  grape-vines.  About  it,  planted  as  three  sides 
of  a  square,  the  open  ends  reaching  to  within  a  yard  or 
two  of  the  beach,  were  the  double  lines  of  poplars  which 
the  early  settlers  in  these  parts  seem  to  have  regarded  as 
some  kind  of  talisman,  for  they  planted  them  so  frequently. 
Within  this  square  and  all  about  the  ruins  there  flourished 
an  old  garden  open  to  the  sun  and  wind.  Dane  had  picked 
moss  roses  there  the  summer  before,  and  had  lain  down  to 
sleep  with  the  fragrance  of  sweet  briar  in  his  nostrils. 


262  THE  STRANGE  ATTRACTION 

There  were  hydrangea  bushes,  mottled  out  of  their  original 
clear  blue  by  the  bees,  geraniums  in  wild  profusion,  and 
the  traces  of  violets  and  jonquil  leaves  turning  brown  in 
the  coarse  grass. 

On  the  edge  of  all  this  and  a  mere  jump  from  the  sand 
Dane  had  pitched  two  tents,  had  made  a  stone  fireplace, 
and  had  collected  a  fine  pile  of  wood.  Beyond  the  camp, 
near  the  further  end  of  the  bay's  curve,  was  a  clump  of 
green  bush  and  fern  in  a  little  gully  which  sheltered  the 
spring  that  had  beguiled  the  early  missionary  into  set- 
tling here.  This  spring  ran  into  the  river  on  the  inside  of 
a  rocky  point  that  curved  about  to  make  a  perfect  land- 
ing-place and  shelter  for  boats.  The  Diana  and  the  row- 
ing boat  Dane  had  hired  could  lie  there  unseen  by  people 
passing  on  the  river,  and  he  had  been  anxious  to  hide  his 
launch,  in  which  he  had  run  about  the  rivers  a  good  deal. 
Beyond  the  square  of  poplars,  trailing  in  a  straggly  fash- 
ion up  the  slope,  was  a  moss-grown  orchard  of  fig  and 
peach  and  apple  trees,  stunted  now  with  the  swirl  of  the 
westerly  winds  that  curled  over  the  bare  hilltop  behind, 
but  still  capable  of  bearing  fruit  that  was  good  to  the 
taste. 

In  spite  of  its  openness  to  the  wind  and  sky  and  its 
position  on  the  river,  the  place  was  remote.  The  nearest 
habitation  was  a  fish-tinning  factory  two  miles  further  up, 
and  beyond  that  were  Maori  settlements  long  before  one 
came  to  those  of  the  whites.  The  lovers  had  little  to  fear 
from  the  curiosity  of  picnickers  or  fishers,  as  no  one  would 
land  in  a  place  where  tents  showed  prior  possession.  Dane 
thought  he  had  found  the  best  thing  available,  and  he  felt 
very  happy  as  the  sun  came  up  on  this  delectable  abode 
of  little  birds  and  sweet  scents.  The  place  was  alive  with 
the  twittering  of  sparrows  and  yellowhammers,  and  a 
delicate  fragrance  from  the  briars  drifted  out  from  the 


THE  STRANGE  ATTRACTION  263 

shore.  The  river  was  so  still  when  the  launch  came  to 
rest  that  the  poplars,  caught  by  the  sun,  were  reflected 
in  the  bay. 

Throwing  off  his  coat  Dane  moved  along  to  the  cabin, 
crept  in  and  woke  Valerie  with  kisses  on  her  lips. 

She  roused  herself  regretfully  out  of  her  heavy  sleep. 
"  Oh,  did  you  have  to  wake  me?  "  she  asked  pathetically. 

"  You  shall  go  straight  to  bed  again  and  sleep  all  day 
if  you  want  to.  But  come  on  and  look." 

Weary  as  she  was  she  knew  this  incurable  romanticist  of 
hers  had  something  to  show  her,  and  that  if  she  did  not 
take  it  properly  she  would  spoil  his  day.  She  rubbed  her 
eyes  and  stretched  herself,  crawled  out  and  got  to  her 
feet.  Then  she  came  to  full  awakeness  in  a  moment. 
Never  had  he  given  her  a  hint  of  the  tents,  which  she  saw 
even  before  she  took  in  the  beauty  of  their  setting.  She 
ran  her  eyes  over  the  whole  place  before  she  turned  to 
him. 

"  You've  just  got  everything  I  love,"  she  said  hoarsely, 
and  sat  down  on  a  seat  to  feast  her  eyes  upon  it. 

"You  really  like  it?" 

"  Oh,  Dane,  how  could  I  help  but  like  it?  How  do  you 
find  such  lovely  places  ?  " 

Pleased  he  went  back  to  the  engine,  and  ran  the  launch 
into  the  shelter  at  the  end  of  the  bay,  where  they  trans- 
ferred their  things  into  the  rowing  boat.  Valerie  could 
hardly  do  her  share  of  helping,  so  excited  was  she  now 
with  the  charm  of  this  retreat,  with  the  prospect  of  a 
whole  month  with  him,  and  when  they  had  finally  got  all 
their  stuff  landed  and  he  took  her  with  the  pride  of  a 
child  to  see  how  he  had  fixed  things  up  inside  she  was  over- 
come with  delight.  She  turned  with  trembling  lips  and 
threw  her  arms  about  him,  and  stood  close  against  him 
very  still. 


264  THE  STRANGE  ATTRACTION 

He  rubbed  his  cheek  against  hers,  understanding  that 
she  felt  something  she  could  not  put  into  words,  and  then 
he  kissed  her  face  very  lightly,  and  brought  her  back  to  a 
mood  that  was  less  intense. 


Ill 

"  Valerie,  I  hope  that  in  your  three  days'  sleep  you 
have  at  least  dreamed  of  the  solemn  step  we  are  to  take 
in  the  morning." 

She  laughed  delightedly. 

"  You  are  certainly  consistent  in  your  eccentricity,"  he 
went  on  lazily.  "  I  have  never  heard  of  a  person  before 
who  snored  away  her  last  days  of  freedom." 

"  Oh,  Dane,  do  I  really  snore?  " 

"  Would  it  be  as  serious  as  all  that  if  you  did?  " 

"  Dane,  I  firmly  believe  that  snores  have  broken  up  as 
many  happy  homes  as  any  other  cause.  I  simply  could 
not  live  in  a  house  with  a  man  who  snored.  If  I  snore, 
something  has  got  to  be  done  about  it." 

"  Well,  you  don't,  dear,  so  the  ship  won't  go  to  pieces 
on  that  rock.  But  by  God !  you  can  sleep.  I  didn't  real- 
ize a  person  of  your  age  could  be  so  tired." 

"  Poor  old  dear,  it's  been  awfully  dull  for  you.  And 
you  have  been  a  perfect  saint.  But  you  won't  have  to  be 
a  disembodied  spirit  much  longer.  I  shall  be  rested  in  a 
day  or  two." 

"  I  haven't  been  suffering,  my  child.  I've  had  poems 
piecing  themselves  together  in  my  head,  poems  to  you  an'd 
the  camp.  I've  been  quite  happy." 

Dane  lounged  on  a  rug  and  cushions  against  the  stern 
seat  of  the  launch,  his  arms  clasped  above  his  head,  and 
Valerie  sat  in  one  of  her  favourite  attitudes  with  her  chin 
on  her  knees  beside  him.  They  were  in  a  little  creek  near 


THE  STRANGE  ATTRACTION  265 

a  Maori  settlement,  where  they  had  come  to  hear  the  na- 
tive band  that  played  on  fine  nights.  They  had  been  still 
for  over  an  hour  listening  to  it.  A  moon  waxing  to  the 
full  crept  up  over  tree  tops  and  now  shone  down  upon 
them. 

They  had  been  out  on  the  river  only  at  night  so  far, 
not  only  because  it  was  pleasanter,  but  because  Dane  was 
very  anxious  not  to  be  seen,  and  there  was  more  traffic 
than  he  had  expected.  But  it  had  been  no  hardship  to 
stay  in  the  cool  little  gully  near  the  tents  by  day,  espe- 
cially for  Valerie,  who  could  hardly  stay  awake  long 
enough  to  eat.  She  had  slumped  indeed  quite  badly,  and 
Dane  had  seen  that  she  must  have  emotional  as  well  as 
physical  rest,  and  putting  aside  his  own  temporary  desires 
to  climb  hills  or  make  love  to  her  he  had  set  himself  to  get 
her  well  again. 

As  she  had  to  be  three  days  in  the  neighbourhood  before 
the  ceremony  could  be  performed,  Dane  was  still  teasing 
her  about  it.  He  looked  up  at  her  now  with  a  whimsical 
smile,  and  reaching  up  for  her  hand  drew  it  down  against 
his  cheek. 

"Need  any  moral  support  for  to-morrow?"  he  asked 
lightly. 

Her  eyes  gleamed  down"  at  him.  "  I  wasn't  thinking 
about  it,"  she  retorted. 

"What  then?" 

"  I  was  just  wondering  why  people  dan't  keep  them- 
selves at  a  pitch  of  happiness.  Why  we  can't  be  like  this 
always,  what  it  is  that  comes  on  and  changes  things.  It 
seems  to  me  that  if  you  and  I  always  had  a  boat  and  the 
moon  and  a  fine  night  we  ought  always  to  feel  as  happ}'  as 
we  are  now." 

"  But,  you  blessed  idiot,  we  don't  always  have  the  boat 
and  the  moon  and  the  fine  night." 


266  THE  STRANGE  ATTRACTION 

"  I  don't  see  it.  I  don't  understand  why  we  get  tireo! 
of  a  fine  thing." 

"  Well,  my  dear,  isn't  that  the  whole  damned  puzzle? 
You  could  not  play  the  Moonlight  Sonata  over  and  over 
again  all  day  long  and  all  night  without  growing  to  hate 
it.  You'd  fatigue  your  sense  of  hearing  till  it  drove  you 
mad.  That's  what  life  does  to  us.  We  look  at  the  beau- 
tiful thing  and  don't  see  it  any  more  because  we  have 
looked  at  it  too  closely  or  too  long.  What  was  once  a 
revelation  becomes  a  commonplace.  But  what  can  we  do 
about  it?  Some  of  us  do  try  to  avert  disaster  by  having 
all  the  variety  we  can  in  life,  by  contrasting  one  thing 
with  another." 

She  looked  away  from  him  for  a  minute  and  then  she 
turned  and  slid  down  beside  him. 

"  I  know  something  that  will  never  be  commonplace," 
she  said  softly,  looking  intently  into  his  face. 

"  Thank  you,  dear.     That  was  charmingly  said." 

"  Dane,  you're  a  lovely  person.  I  wish — I  hope " 

Her  voice  broke. 

"  Taken  as  meant,  dear,"  he  said  lightly. 

"  Oh,  I'm  so  happy,  and  it  seems  unnatural,  it's  just 
all  so  beautiful  here  with  you." 

"  Cheer  up,  "dear.  It  won't  last.  It's  blowing  up  for 
rain,  and  we  shall  have  to  sit  in  the  tents,  and  cook  by 
the  kerosene  stove,  and  it  smells  horribly." 

She  laughed.  "  But  you  said  if  it  rained  we  could  go 
fishing  out  on  the  flats." 

"  That's  true,  we  can." 

"  Well  then,  that's  a  poor  disaster  to  threaten  me  with." 
She  lay  happily  down  beside  him  and  yawned. 

"  Good  Lord.  You're  going  to  sleep  again,"  he  said. 
«  We'll  go  home." 

But   Valerie  had   almost   slept   herself  out,   and  when 


THE  STRANGE  ATTRACTION  267 

something  startled  her  in  the  night,  some  bird  or  small 
animal  about  the  tent,  she  found  herself  unable  to  drop 
off  to  sleep  again.  She  lay  looking  at  the  pattern  of  the 
poplar  trees  like  a  fretwork  on  the  moonlit  roof.  It  was 
so  still  outside  that  she  could  hear  fish  jumping  in  the  bay 
and  Dane's  steady  breathing  in  the  cot  beside  her.  She 
drew  herself  up  and  looked  across  at  the  black  head  against 
the  pillow.  She  was  glad  to  be  able  to  look  at  him  like 
that  in  the  soft  light  without  his  knowing.  She  wondered 
as  she  had  done  several  times  how  far  his  looks  affected 
her,  for  she  knew  well  enough  she  was  crazy  about  them. 
She  loved  to  move  her  fingers  about  in  his  hair,  to  feast 
her  eyes  upon  the  beauty  of  his  straight  and  sensitive  fea- 
tures, and  to  catch  and  hold  as  long  as  she  could  the 
expressions  that  crept  out  of  his  eyes  and  played  about 
them.  She  understood  well  enough  why  women  had  gone 
mad  about  him.  And  she  was  beginning  to  understand 
why  none  of  them  had  stuck  to  him. 

Women  did  not  stick  to  men  they  could  neither  domi- 
nate nor  understand,  she  thought,  the  kind  of  women  he 
had  probably  known,  that  was.  She  herself  was  deter- 
mined not  to  try  to  dominate  him,  even  where  she  thought 
she  might  do  it,  and  she  knew  now  that  she  was  probably 
no  nearer  understanding  him  than  the  others.  But  at 
least  she  meant  to  try.  That  he  was  a  creature  of  strange 
idealisms,  contradictory  impulses,  desperate  despairs,  and 
fierce  protests  against  divisions  in  himself  she  knew.  She 
did  not  suppose  she  could  fight  his  battles  for  him,  save 
him  from  his  weaknesses,  but  at  least  she  was  determined 
now  to  ignore  them  as  long  as  possible.  She  had  simply 
ceased  to  think  of  the  things  that  had  worried  her  a  few 
weeks  back,  the  possibility  that  he  took  drugs,  his  lapses 
into  drinking. 
.  As  she  looked  at  him  he  turned  a  little  in  his  sleep  and 


268  THE  STRANGE  ATTRACTION 

threw  his  arm  across  his  face.  It  gave  him  the  air  of 
fighting  off  some  invisible  enemy.  It  seemed  to  her  a 
characteristic  attitude.  He  was  so  often  fighting  in- 
visible enemies.  And  that  gave  to  his  eyes  the  light  that 
she  had  sometimes  seen  flash  across  them,  the  light  of  one 
who  has  come  victorious  out  of  a  battle.  And  she  knew 
that  was  why  his  face  was  so  different  in  expression  from 
that  of  her  father.  Her  father  did  not  fight. 

She  grew  sentimental  about  him  as  she  sat  there,  saw 
him  again  as  the  boy  left  behind  in  hotels,  lonely  and  for- 
lorn, trying  to  puzzle  out  the  strange  things  that  he  saw 
about  him,  pictured  his  erratic  and  undisciplined  youth, 
his  sensitiveness  and  fastidiousness  at  war  with  the  coarse- 
ness and  ruthlessness  in  the  world  about  him,  thought  over 
the  probability  that  his  early  sex  experience  had  been 
soiled  by  the  selfishness  of  women  older  than  himself,  as 
she  knew  his  wife  had  been.  Tears  came  to  her  eyes  as 
she  remembered  how  life  had  hurt  him.  She  wanted  to  get 
out  of  her  cot  then  and  there  and  put  her  arms  round 
him  and  swear  that  that  was  the  one  thing  she  would  never 
do.  She  did  not  in  that  moment  perceive  that  it  was  the 
one  thing  she  would  inevitably  do  because  they  loved  each 
other. 


IV 

David  Bruce's  face  lit  up  when  they  walked  into  his 
office  to  be  married  the  next  morning.  Every  Justice  of 
the  Peace  in  the  North  could  tell  a  tale  of  at  least  one 
strange  pair  who  had  descended  upon  him  pleading  for 
secrecy.  Sometimes  he  knew  the  parties,  but  usually  he 
did  not,  for  they  came  from  other  places.  But  Bruce 
knew  well  who  were  his  merry  suppliants  for  silence.  He 
had  not  told  Dane,  and  he  did  not  dream  of  telling  either 


THE  STRANGE  ATTRACTION  269 

of  them,  that  Davenport  Carr  happened  to  be  his  own 
lawyer,  and  that  he  guessed  some  of  the  fuss  that  might 
follow  this  marriage.  All  that  concerned  him  was  that 
they  were  of  age  and  of  sound  mind.  And  as  they  stood 
before  him,  both  dressed  in  white  flannels  as  if  they  were 
about  to  play  a  game  of  tennis,  he  thought  he  had  never 
seen  a  more  engaging  pair  of  human  beings. 

Valerie  looked  up  at  him  and  thought  at  once  that 
since  she  had  to  go  through  with  this  stupid  affair  it  was 
nice  to  have  someone  with  the  humorous  eyes  that  Bruce 
had  to  manage  it.  And  she  was  still  more  attracted  to 
him  when  he  spoke.  She  felt  he  was,  as  Dane  had  said,  a 
man  with  a  wide  knowledge  of  good  and  evil,  and  a  mind 
that  nothing  could  take  unawares.  He  smilingly  reas- 
sured her  as  to  the  secrecy  of  this  objectionable  transac- 
tion. Nobody  ever  asked  to  see  the  register,  he  said.  He 
mightn't  marry  anyone  again  for  six  months,  as  most 
people  preferred  the  church.  It  was  possible  to  over- 
look a  record  in  one  quarter  and  to  remember  it  at  a  later 
date.  One  took  risks  in  the  interest  of  the  personal  equa- 
tion. His  manager,  Bob  Hargraves,  who  would  have  to 
witness  the  ceremony,  could  be  trusted  not  to  tell  even  his 
wife. 

Immediately  after  the  ceremony  Valerie  took  off  the 
ring  that  Dane  had  remembered  to  buy  in  Auckland,  and 
as  she  signed  the  register  she  could  not  resist  her  little 
fling. 

"  To  think  that  this  is  all  that  stands  between  morality 
and  immorality  in  the  eyes  of  this  crazy  world,  and  that 
I'm  supposed  to  respect  the  people  who  believe  it  is!  My 
God!  It's  unbelievable.  Three  minutes'  rigmarole  to  do 
a  thing  that  it  takes  courts  and  lawyers  and  witnesses 
weeks  of  beastly  mess  and  tangle  to  undo !  It's  beyond 
me.  And  I  vowed  I'd  never  go  through  it."  She  turned 


270  THE  STRANGE  ATTRACTION 

to  Dane  almost  resentfully.  "  I  hope  you're  proud  of 
the  surrender." 

"  If  I  thought  it  was  that  I  should  commence  divorce 
proceedings  to-morrow,"  he  retorted.  "  I  could  live  with 
anything  but  a  surrender." 

David  Bruce  stood  by  his  window  to  watch  them  go 
along  to  the  Diana.  He  felt  he  would  like  to  know  how 
they  got  on. 

"  How  many  years  do  you  give  those  two?  "  asked  Bob, 
with  a  grin  on  his  face. 

"  Bob,  I  don't  think  time  will  matter  very  much  in  this 
case.  They  care  more  about  the  quality  of  life  than  the 
length  of  it — those  two." 

There  followed  wonderful  days  and  wonderful  nights  for 
the  lovers.  For  a  week  the  weather  was  hot  and  fine,  and 
they  began  the  day  with  a  plunge  right  out  of  bed  into 
their  little  bay.  Then  after  their  housekeeping  was  done 
he  retired  into  the  cooler  tent  to  write,  and  Valerie  either 
read  or  walked  about  the  hills  or  went  off  rowing  to  limber 
up  her  limbs,  stiffened  by  long  months  of  sitting.  If  she 
returned  before  he  was  out  calling  for  her  she  kept  very 
still.  After  their  lunch  they  played  in  the  bay  or  dozed 
in  hammocks  in  the  gully  till  it  was  time  for  tea,  and  then, 
as  the  day  became  cooler  and  they  felt  energetic,  they 
would  get  ready  for  a  night  picnic,  an  excursion  up  the 
river,  or  a  long  walk  over  the  slopes  to  the  harbour. 

At  first  Dane  had  insisted  on  doing  most  of  the  work, 
and  she  had  been  convulsed  the  first  time  she  saw  him 
clean  the  frying-pan.  She  tried  to  see  him  back  in  his 
own  setting  at  the  old  station,  where,  except  for  the  care 
of  the  Diana,  he  never  did  a  stroke  of  work.  She  watched 
him  here  doing  the  washing  up,  shaking  the  matting  on  the 
ground  floor,  airing  the  bedding,  as  he  did  in  the  first 
days  while  she  was  so  tired,  as  if  it  were  some  other  man 


THE  STRANGE  ATTRACTION  271 

who  had  taken  possession  of  him.  But  it  was  love  that 
had  taken  possession  of  him,  that  had  made  him  more 
velvety  and  less  nervous  than  she  had  ever  seen  him,  and 
that  had  made  him  come  alive. 

It  did  rain,  and  the  kerosene  stove  did  smell,  but  it 
would  have  taken  more  than  such  material  trials  to  de- 
press them.  Nor  did  they  get  bored  with  the  living  at 
close  quarters,  because  they  knew  how  to  be  quiet  and  how 
to  let  each  other  alone.  And  because  the  open  air  life 
made  them  both  sleepy  it  was  possible  for  them,  highly 
strung  though  they  were,  to  share  the  same  tent  at  night. 

As  they  packed  up  Valerie  felt  the  month  had  been  the 
most  beautiful  thing  she  had  ever  known  and  because  she 
felt  that  she  was  the  more  enraged  at  what  happened  soon 
after  they  got  back. 


About  the  time  the  lovers  went  to  the  Otamatea  there 
began  to  leak  out  in  Auckland  rumours  concerning  their 
friendship.  As  usual  no  one  knew  where  the  nods  and 
suggestions  and  shrugs  of  the  shoulders  began,  whether 
they  arose  out  of  the  visits  of  Dargaville  people  to  rela- 
tives in  the  city  or  from  hints  in  letters.  But  by  devious 
ways  they  got  to  the  Lorrimer  family  and  so  to  the  Carrs. 
At  the  first  breath  Doris  Lorrimer  had  written  to  Bob  for 
the  truth  of  the  matter,  and  he  had  replied  at  once  with 
a  loyally  positive  statement  that  it  was  all  nonsense,  and 
that  he  ought  to  know.  But  this  had  no  effect  on  the 
rumours. 

Davenport  Carr  was  worried.  He  was  ready  to  excuse 
any  wildmjss,  any  independence  on  the  part  of  his  daugh- 
ter except  the  one  unpardonable  sin,  that  of  getting  mixed 
up  publicly  with  the  wrong  man.  And  from  his  point  of 
view  Dane  was  the  wrong  man,  much  as  he  admired  him. 


272  THE  STRANGE  ATTRACTION 

And  like  most  fathers  he  made  the  mistake  of  thinking 
that  his  daughter  had  never  got  beyond  the  age  of  sixteen. 
He  was  annoyed  at  the  rumours  for  two  other  reasons — 
he  regarded  Dane's  association  with  Valerie  as  a  breach 
of  a  code  and  an  act  of  treachery,  and  he  had  recently 
made  the  acquaintance  of  a  rich  Englishman  of  family 
and  personalit}'  who  he  thought  would  make  a  splendid 
husband  for  her.  He  had  not  supposed  he  could  choose 
her  husband  for  her,  but  he  did  not  believe  any  woman 
knew  her  own  mind  so  well  that  a  little  clever  manauvring 
would  not  turn  her  in  another  direction.  And  it  must  be 
said  for  him  that  he  had  had  little  demonstration  to  the 
contrary. 

The  last  week  in  January  he  took  his  yacht  to  the  Bay 
of  Islands  intending  to  pick  up  Valerie  and  the  Landons 
and  bring  them  home  by  the  coast.  As  luck  would  have 
it,  the  day  before  the  Landons  returned  from  the  North 
Carr  ran  into  the  driver  who  had  taken  them  on  the  first 
stage  of  their  wanderings,  and  learned  from  him  that  no 
Miss  Carr  had  gone  with  them,  nor  had  she  been  seen  any- 
where in  the  neighbourhood.  Then  he  went  to  the  post- 
office,  where  he  was  well  known,  and  on  the  plea  of  urgent 
necessity  to  get  at  his  daughter  learned  the  illuminating 
fact  that  her  mail  was  being  readdressed  to  the  Otamatea. 
He  returned  to  Auckland  that  night  in  a  very  bad  temper, 
and  telegraphed  to  Bob  to  find  out  when  Valerie  would  be 
back  on  the  paper.  Learning  that  it  was  only  to  be  a 
few  days  he  waited.  His  next  source  of  information  was 
Roger  Benton  into  whom  he  ran  two  days  later  in  the 
club  to  which  they  both  belonged.  They  dined  together, 
and  Davenport  Carr  led  the  talk  back  to  the  election,  the 
News  and  the  work  done  by  Dane  Barrington.  A  few 
cleverly  worded  questions  which  Roger  tried  to  evade  told 
Carr  all  he  wanted  to  know. 


THE  STRANGE  ATTRACTION  273 

VI 

As  Dane  lay  reading  in  his  hammock  the  Wednesday 
afternoon  of  the  following  week  his  chained  dogs  set  up  a 
fierce  growling  on  the  other  side  of  the  house,  and  Lee 
glided  to  his  side. 

"  A  strange  man  coming  in,"  he  said. 

"  Well,  stop  him  at  once,  Lee.  Say  I'm  away.  Miss 
Carr  will  be  here  any  minute.  So  get  him  out  somehow. 
Threaten  him  with  the  dogs  if  he  won't  go." 

He  lay  on  in  the  hammock  for  a  few  minutes,  and  then 
exceedingly  annoyed  he  got  up  to  see  who  it  was  who  had 
had  the  cheek  to  defy  the  notice  at  the  gate.  He  walked 
into  the  study  and  was  astonished  to  see  Davenport  Carr 
talking  angrily  to  Lee. 

The  boy  had  met  the  stranger  near  the  front  steps. 
He  was  no  respecter  of  persons  where  his  obedience  was 
concerned. 

"  Meester  Barrington  not  home.  You  please  to  go 
away,"  he  said. 

Davenport  Carr  looked  down  coolly  enough  at  him.  He 
had  no  intention  of  getting  angry  with  a  servant. 

"  I  happen  to  know  he  is  home.  And  I'm  Miss  Carr's 
father.  You  go  and  tell  him  who  it  is." 

"  It  no  good,  Meester  Carr.  He  away."  And  Lee 
looked  meaningly  at  the  dogs. 

That  look  made  Davenport  Carr  suddenly  furious,  but 
he  made  an  effort  to  control  himself. 

"  It's  no  use  your  telling  me  he's  away.  And  even  if 
he  is  I'm  going  to  wait  till  he  comes  back.  You  needn't 
look  at  those  dogs  again,  you  damned  little  fool." 

"  You  mistake,"  said  Lee,  with  great  dignity.  "  Meester 
Barrington  away,  gone  to  town." 

At  that  moment  Dane  came  through  the  front  door. 


274  THE  STRANGE  ATTRACTION 

"  Thank  you,  Lee,"  he  said,  very  quietly,  and  the  boy 
much  relieved,  but  not  at  all  embarrassed,  disappeared  in- 
side. 

The  two  men  looked  at  one  another  for  a  minute. 

"  I  say,  Carr,  whatever  you  may  have  come  to  say  to 
me,  I'll  thank  you  not  to  insult  my  servants."  His  cool 
voice  still  further  irritated  his  visitor. 

"  Damn  it,  Barrington,  he  had  the  cheek  to  threaten  me 
with  those  dogs." 

"  I  told  him  to,  but  without  knowing  who  it  was  who 
had  come  past  the  notice  on  my  gate.  I  don't  allow  peo- 
ple in  here  unless  I  ask  them.  But  I'm  not  in  hiding,  and 
if  you  had  let  me  know  you  were  coming  I  should  have 
come  down  for  you  in  my  launch." 

"  Oh,  you  would,  would  you?  "  Davenport  Carr  strug- 
gled for  control.  He  knew  it  was  useless  to  be  angry,  but 
something  about  Dane's  manner  nettled  him,  threw  him 
into  the  wrong  mood  for  this  interview. 

"  Why,  certainly.  May  I  ask  why  you  doubt  it?  And 
will  you  please  come  in." 

Carr  followed  him.  He  was  vaguely  aware  of  the  at- 
mosphere of  the  study  he  was  passing  through,  and  more 
vividly  aware  of  the  peace  and  comfort  of  the  verandah, 
the  beauty  of  the  shrubs  and  bush  heavy  with  the  sensu- 
ousness  of  the  afternoon  warmth,  the  panel  of  sunny  river 
framed  in  the  leafy  ravine,  and  the  curiosity  of  a  fantail 
that  flitted  about  the  verandah  posts. 

He  had  an  unpleasant  feeling  even  then  that  he  was  in 
the  wrong,  that  he  should  never  have  come.  The  quiet 
assurance  with  which  Dane  indicated  a  chair  was  not  lost 
upon  him.  But  he  made  no  move  to  take  it. 

"  Look  here,  Barrington,  I've  come  to  talk  plainly  to 
you." 

"  I  understand   that.      And  since   vou  have   chosen   to 


THE  STRANGE  ATTRACTION  275 

come  to  my  house  I  must  listen  to  you  now,  and  I'm  ready 
to  hear  all  you  have  to  say.  But  will  you  please  remem- 
ber that  it  is  my  house,  and  that  I  do  not  allow  any  man 
to  come  here  and  behave  as  he  pleases.  I  insist  that  you 
act  according  to  my  sense  of  hospitality  or  we  will  go 
out  on  the  public  road.  Will  you  please  sit  down?  " 

Davenport  Carr  had  never  been  spoken  to  like  that  in 
all  his  life,  but  angry  as  he  was  he  recognized  Dane's  right 
to  deliver  that  extraordinary  speech.  He  sat  down. 

Dane  got  into  his  hammock  and  lit  a  cigarette  with  a 
detachment  that  did  not  help  the  temper  of  the  man  who 
was  staring  at  him.  The  minute  he  had  seen  through 
his  study  window  who  his  unwelcome  guest  was  he  knew 
he  was  in  for  it  and  set  himself  to  face  the  music.  But  he 
did  not  mind  what  he  would  hear  half  so  much  as  he  did  the 
scene  that  was  likely  to  ensue  when  Valerie  arrived.  But 
whatever  happened  he  was  determined  to  keep  his  own 
temper,  to  bear  in  mind  the  point  of  view  of  a  father  in 
the  matter,  and  also  the  point  of  view  of  the  man  brought 
up  as  Carr  had  been. 

He  was  no  sooner  in  his  hammock  than  Lee  came 
through  the  door  with  a  tray  and  glasses.  Dane  could 
hardly  keep  from  showing  his  appreciation  of  the  match- 
less behaviour  of  his  servant,  who,  gliding  like  a  spirit, 
placed  the  things  on  the  red  table,  moved  it  near  the  ham- 
mock, and  looked  at  Davenport  Carr  as  if  he  saw  him  for 
the  first  time. 

"  What  you  have,  Meester  Carr,  wine  or  whisky?  "  he 
asked,  with  his  impassive  urbanity. 

"  I — I — nothing.  I  won't  drink."  Carr  stared  furiously 
past  him  out  into  the  garden.  He  felt  he  was  in  some 
conspiracy  of  management. 

"  Meester  Barrington?  " 

"  Pour  out  two  whiskies,  Lee." 


1276  THE  STRANGE  ATTRACTION 

Davenport  Carr  gave  one  withering  look  into  Dane's 
insolently  quiet  face,  and  then  he  stared  at  the  fantail 
that  was  now  perched  on  a  rocking  twig  of  honeysuckle 
chirping  impertinently  at  him. 

When  he  had  poured  out  the  drinks  Lee  looked  uncer- 
tainly at  Dane. 

"What  is  it?" 

"  The  other?  "  suggested  the  boy.     "  What  do  I  say?  " 

"  Oh,  Miss  Carr?    Is  she  here?  " 

"  No,  but  she  come  soon,  you  say." 

"  That's  all  right,  Lee,  Let  her  come  here  as  soon  as 
she  arrives." 

Davenport  Carr  tapped  his  feet  nervously  on  the  floor 
and  the  minute  Lee  had  disappeared  he  stood  up. 

"  Look  here,  Barrington,  I  didn't  mean  to  lose  my  tem- 
per when  I  came,  and  I  didn't  come  here  to  talk  morals  to 
you  either,  but  I'm  not  going  to  let  you  insult  me  by  your 
manner,  especially  when  you  know  well  enough  why  I  have 
come." 

"  I'm  sorry  I've  seemed  insulting,  Carr.  That  is  the 
last  thing  I  wish  to  be  under  any  circumstances,  or  to 
anybody.  I  don't  know  what  kind  of  manner  you  expect 
from  me,  but  I'm  not  going  to  get  angry  just  because  you 
'do." 

Dane  did  not  move  his  head  from  his  red  cushions. 
Something  about  his  ease  and  beauty  fascinated  his  visitor 
even  while  it  enraged  him. 

"  Good  God,  haven't  I  a  right  to  be  angry  ?  You've 
got  Valerie  talked  about  here  and  in  Auckland.  Do  you 
tell  me  you  don't  know  that?  "  He  took  a  step  nearer  the 
hammock. 

Dane's  expression  did  not  change.  "  I  didn't  know  it, 
and  I'm  very  sorry  to  hear  it.  I  did  my  best  to  avoid  it." 

"  Oh,  you  did,  did  you?    That  at  least  is  something  to 


THE  STRANGE  ATTRACTION  277 

your  credit.  How  long  have  you  been  living  with  Va- 
lerie? " 

"  You  mean,  am  I  living  with  Valerie?  Well,  Carr,  I 
once  heard  you  say  that  was  an  unfair  and  impertinent 
question  outside  a  court  of  law,  and  that  it  should  never 
in  any  case  be  asked  of  a  man,  as  he  had  no  right  to 
speak  for  the  woman  concerned.  I  agreed  with  you  at  the 
time  and  I  still  do." 

For  a  moment  Dane  thought  the  other  man  was  going 
to  strike  him  as  he  lay,  but  he  kept  still,  looking  him  fair 
in  the  eyes. 

"  Barrington,  will  you  get  out  of  that  damned  thing ! 
I  can't  talk  to  you  while  you  lie  there  like  a  woman.  Get 
up!" 

"  Well,  if  I  get  out  of  this  thing  we'll  go  out  on  the 
road.  I  repeat  this  is  my  house,  and  you  can't  dictate  to 
me  whether  I  shall  sit  or  stand.  And  I  always  use  this 
hammock  when  I'm  out  here.  Now  will  you  please  say 
what  you  came  to  say.  I'm  anxious  to  have  it  over  before 
Valerie  comes,  and  for  God's  sake,  Carr,  be  careful  what 
you  say  to  her." 

"  Be  careful  what  I  say  to  her ! "  The  moment  would 
have  been  critical  for  an  apoplectic  man.  "  By  God,  you 
are  a  grim  humourist !  " 

"  I  don't  mean  to  be  funny,  I  assure  you.  But  I  repeat 
it.  You  know  what  advice  and  interference  do  to  her. 
They  seem  to  give  her  inflammation  of  the  brain.  You 
see  she  is  not  a  person  moved  merely  by  impulse;  she  has 
the  fanaticism  of  strong  conviction." 

"  Oh,  the  deuce !  Anyone  can  make  a  conviction  out  of 
an  impulse." 

"  I  don't  doubt  that  has  been  your  method,  my  dear 
Carr,  but  it  is  not  your  daughter's.  I  know  a  thorough- 
bred conviction  when  I  see  it  and  she  is  full  of  them.  I 


278  THE  STRANGE  ATTRACTION 

should  be  suspicious  of  your  convictions  and  even  o?  my 
own " 

Davenport  Carr  swung  round  on  his  heel,  stamped 
along  the  verandah  to  the  steps  and  down  them  to  relieve 
his  feelings,  and  then  after  a  minute,  he  stamped  up 
again. 

"  Get  out  of  that  thing,  Barrington,"  he  shouted. 

But  Dane  turned  wearily  away  from  him  with  a  gesture 
of  impatience  that  showed  his  visitor  what  a  fool  he  was 
making  of  himself.  He  dropped  down  into  the  nearest 
chair  making  a  desperate  effort  at  control. 

"  Won't  you  have  a  whisky,  and  tell  me  what  it  is  you 
wish  to  say,"  said  Dane,  very  quietly. 

"  I  won't  drink — thanks."  Carr  sat  for  some  minutes 
alternately  diverted  and  irritated  by  the  fantail  which 
kept  squeaking  at  him. 

"  I  came  to  appeal  to  you,  Barrington,  if  you  have  a 
spark  of  decency  left  in  you.  You've  lived  a  hot  life  and 
you  know  the  world  as  well  as  I  do.  I  didn't  come  here  to 
blame  you  for  being  attracted  by  Valerie.  I  wish  to  be 
fair.  Benton  told  me  he  begged  you  to  go  on  the  paper, 
and  I've  no  doubt  that  she  met  you  half-way.  And  I 
could  have  overlooked — well — some  secret  meetings  with 
you  both  thrown  together  up  here.  God  knows  I've  done 
things  I  don't  care  to  think  about.  But  you  should  never 
have  got  her  talked  about.  That  is  the  thing  I  can't 
forgive.  And  I  liked  and  trusted  you.  Now  this  with  my 
daughter.  You  should  have  gone  away  in  the  beginning." 

The  moderation  in  this  impressed  Dane.  He  had  not 
quite  expected  it. 

"  I  did,  Carr.    I  did  go  away." 

"  Well,  you  came  back,  then." 

"  Yes,  I  came  back."  He  turned  in  the  hammock  and 
looked  out  into  the  garden.  The  light  on  his  face  ar- 


THE  STRANGE  ATTRACTION  279 

rested  the  other  man,  but  he  saw  it  as  something  to  be 
taken  advantage  of. 

"  Well,  if  you  have  any  respect  for  her,  Harrington, 
you  must  see  that  whatever  there  is  between  you  must  end 
at  once.  I'm  here  to  beg  you  to  end  it.  You  can't  pre- 
tend that  there  is  anything  between  you  that  will  last. 
If  I  cannot  get  her  to  leave  Dargaville  you  must  go  away 
yourself,  and  then  what  talk  there  has  been  will  die  down. 
It  is  the  only  thing  you  can  do  now.  Will  you  do  it  ?  " 

Dane  turned  to  look  at  him.  "  Honestly,  Carr,  I  don't 
think  you  have  any  right  to  ask  me  to  do  that." 

"  What !  Do  you  mean  to  tell  me  you  don't  know  what 
the  result  will  be  to  her  if  you  go  on  ?  " 

"  I  wasn't  thinking  of  that.  I  was  thinking  that  she  is 
twenty-six,  and  a  free  agent,  and  that  she  doesn't  care." 

Carr  felt  his  anger  mounting  again. 

"Doesn't  she?  She  will  care,  silly  fool.  She  will  care 
well  enough  when  she  comes  out  of  the  self-indulgent  mess 
you've  got  her  into." 

Try  as  he  would  Dane  could  not  keep  a  shadow  of  a 
pitying  smile  out  of  his  eyes.  "  Carr,  the  man  was  never 
born  who  could  make  your  daughter  self-indulgent.  And 
love  is  not  the  only  indulgence.  You  can  be  self-indulgent 
on  milk  and  potatoes  if  you're  made  that  way.  But  it  is 
a  matter  of  being  born  that  way.  So  please  don't  at- 
tribute to  me  powers  over  your  daughter  that  I  don't 
possess." 

Davenport  Carr  sprang  up  again.  "  Stop  your 
damned  philosophizing.  It's  not  helping  your  case  at  all. 
You  have  behaved  like  a  cad.  I  can't  help  saying  it. 
You  have  seduced  an  inexperienced  girl " 

"  I  did  not  seduce  Valerie,  and  I  never  seduced  any 
girl." 

"  You  have  had  her  here  overnight.    What  the  devil  do 


280  THE  STRANGE  ATTRACTION 

you  call  that?  And  I  believe  you  have  been  away  witH 
her  this  last  month.  It  is  ridiculous  for  you  to  pre- 
tend  " 

"  I'm  not  pretending  anything,  Carr.  I  tell  you 
frankly  I  have  wished  to  marry  her  ever  since  the  begin- 
ning of  last  winter." 

"What!"  Valerie's  father  lost  the  little  control  he 
now  had  left.  "  Of  course  you  did!  Your  object  is  plain 
enough.  Of  course  you'd  like  to  marry  her!  Of  course 
you'd  like  to  get  back  so  easily  after  two  divorce  scandals 
and  the  other  mess.  And  a  fine  husband  you  would  be 
for  my  daughter  with  all  that  hanging  round  your  neck. 
By  God,  marriage  is  the  one  thing  I  will  prevent  if  I  can. 
I  tell  you  that  plainly.  Damn  you!  How  you  can  have 
the  infernal  cheek — after  what  I  did  for  you — I'd  believe 
anything  after  this.  And  you  can  get  your  business  out 
of  my  hands  at  once,  do  you  hear?  At  once.  I  will  not 
be  your  lawyer  a  week  longer.  If  you  ruin  my  daughter, 

you  blackguard But  you  shall  not.     If  you'd  ever 

had  the  decency  to  be  a  parent  you'd  know  how  one  feels 
about  a  child " 

The  torrent  stopped  abruptly  for  Valerie  swung 
through  the  study  door  with  a  livid,  quivering  face,  and 
clapped  her  hand  on  her  father's  mouth  with  the  sudden- 
ness and  the  appearance  of  a  blow. 

"  You  rotten  coward,  to  taunt  a  man  because  he  never 
had  a  child.  Apologize  for  that  at  once  or  I  will  never 
speak  to  you  again  as  long  as  I  live." 

Davenport  Carr  fell  back  a  step  and  Dane  sprang  from 
the  hammock  and  snatched  her  riding-whip  from  her  hand. 

"For  God's  sake,  Val!  "  he  exclaimed,  horrified. 

"  Oh,  I  wasn't  going  to  hit  him.  Please  get  away, 
Dane.  Are  you  going  to  apologize  ?  " 

' '  Val,  I   insist,  please.      I  will  not  have  any  scene.      It 


THE  STRANGE  ATTRACTION  281 

doesn't  matter  what  your  father  said  to  me.  Do  be  rea- 
sonable   " 

"  Dane,  go  away.  I  won't  be  reasonable.  Was  he  rea- 
sonable? I  heard  what  he  said  to  you.  He  called  you  a 
blackguard — you!  And  that  brutal  taunt!  You  damned 
coward !  "  She  swung  round  on  her  startled  father  like 
an  avenging  fury.  "  You  heard  what  I  said.  Apologize 
or  I  will  never  speak  to  you  again  after  this  day." 

And  Davenport  Carr  saw  a  terrible  look  in  the  eyes  of 
the  child  that  he  had  come  to  shelter  and  defend,  and  it 
was  a  look  that  took  small  account  of  his  eminence  as  a 
parent,  and  a  look  that  made  his  assumptions  as  protector 
seem  absurd.  But  in  spite  of  all  his  confused  anger  he 
was  big  enough  to  see  that  he  had  said  an  uncalled-for 
thing. 

"  I  do  apologize  for  that,  Barrington,"  he  said  un- 
steadily, dropping  back  into  the  chair. 

"  It's  forgotten,  sir."  Dane  turned  to  Valerie,  his  eyes 
trying  to  hold  hers  with  a  compelling  look.  "  Now,  Va- 
lerie, please  say  what  you  have  to  say  quietly.  And  you 
know  one  thing  you  ought  to  say." 

But  it  was  unfortunate  that  Valerie  had  arrived  primed 
as  she  had  not  been  for  years  for  a  row. 

VII 

Bob  had  told  her  when  she  returned  to  the  hotel  the 
previous  Sunday  night  that  her  father  had  wired  to  know 
when  she  would  be  back,  and  then  after  a  little  hesitation 
he  had  told  her  also  that  his  sister  had  written  about  the 
rumours. 

"  Please  don't  think  I'm  interfering.  But  I  thought  you 
might  prefer  to  know." 

She  did  prefer  to  know,  and  was  grateful  to  Bob  and 


282  THE  STRANGE  ATTRACTION 

told  him  so.  She  waited  to  see  if  she  would  hear  more 
and  did  not  suppose  am'thing  would  happen  before  she  saw 
Dane,  as  she  had  arranged,  on  the  Wednesday  evening. 
It  was  on  that  day  soon  after  the  paper  was  out  that 
she  quite  unexpectedly  got  the  news  of  her  father's 
arrival. 

Riding  along  from  Te  Koperu  Doctor  Steele  had  met 
the  buggy  from  the  stables,  had  recognized  Davenport 
Carr  as  the  only  occupant  and  had  seen  that  his  nod  was 
absent-mindedly  returned,  and  then  had  begun  to  wonder 
what  Carr  was  doing  out  on  that  road.  With  a  presenti- 
ment that  something  was  in  the  air  he  stopped  at  the  News 
office  as  he  occasionally  did  when  passing  at  that  hour  of 
the  day  to  get  his  paper.  He  walked  in,  saw  Valerie  sit- 
ting there  with  Bob,  and  after  he  had  been  given  a  copy 
of  the  News  he  said  casually,  "  So  your  father  is  paying 
us  a  visit  again,  Miss  Carr." 

He  saw  her  face  cloud  and  Bob  look  quickly  at  her. 
But  Valerie  didn't  pretend  she  had  expected  him. 

"  Why,  where  did  you  see  him,  Doctor?  He  likes  to  be 
surprising." 

"  I  met  him  on  the  road  here  driving  out  towards  Bar- 
rington's.  Perhaps  we'll  have  a  game  to-night,"  and  he 
walked  out  as  if  he  had  said  nothing  significant. 

Bob  and  Valerie  gave  one  look  at  each  other.  They 
had  not  seen  the  buggy  pass  the  office,  nor  had  it,  for 
Carr  had  taken  a  back  cut. 

"You'd  better  go  after  him,  hadn't  you?"  said  Bob 
quietly. 

And  without  knowing  exactly  what  she  feared  she  had 
hurried  to  the  hotel  where  her  horse  was  waiting  for  her, 
and  caring  nothing  as  to  who  might  have  seen  her  father, 
she  dashed  through  the  town  in  the  heat  in  pursuit  of 
him.  And  before  she  was  half-way  out  she  was  beside  her- 


THE  STRANGE  ATTRACTION  283 

self  with  rage  that  he  had  come  up  at  all  to  impose  the 
outside  world  upon  their  peace.  She  had  heard  the  voices 
directly  she  reached  the  front  steps,  and  she  stole  silently 
into  the  study.  They  were  not  fighting,  she  was  relieved 
to  find,  but  the  things  her  father  was  saying  boiled  the 
blood  already  over-heated  in  her  veins. 

And  Dane  saw,  as  he  tried  to  calm  her  after  her  father's 
apology,  that  he  was  wasting  his  time. 

"  Dane,  I'll  say  what  I  want  to  say  and  nothing  else. 
My  father  came  here  and  said  what  he  wanted  to  say,  and 
now  he  can  listen  to  me." 

He  turned  away  very  hurt  for  here  they  were  quarrel- 
ling for  the  first  time.  He  began  to  pace  back  and  forth 
on  the  verandah,  growing  more  resentful  every  moment  at 
the  scene  that  followed,  though  he  could  not  but  admit 
the  grim  justice  of  much  that  Valerie  said  to  her  father, 
and  admire  the  passionate  eloquence  with  which  she  said 
it. 

She  stood  against  the  hammock  opposite  her  father, 
making  at  first  an  effort  at  control  as  she  wiped  her  hot 
face,  but  after  she  got  started  she  was  like  an  over-wound 
spring  that  had  been  suddenly  released. 

"  I  never  heard  you  talk  such  rubbish  before,  and  I 
didn't  think  anyone  could  talk  such  stuff  to-day.  You 
mentioned  my  ruin.  Why,  Dane  couldn't  ruin  me  if  he 
tried.  You  can't  ruin  a  person  who  isn't  ruinable,  who 
refuses  to  be  ruined.  Do  you  think  I'm  the  Second  Mrs. 
Tanqueray  that  you  come  out  with  that  tosh?  What 
about  all  the  women  you've  been  living  with?  Are  they 
ruined?  And  me?  Am  I  going  to  sit  round  in  the  dark 
with  the  blinds  drawn  waiting  for  people  to  call  ?  Can  you 
see  me  doing  it?  How  can  you  be  so  ridiculous?  Nothing 
can  ruin  me  but  my  own  attitude  of  mind.  Do  you  hear 
that?  And  what  do  you  think  I  live  for?  Invitations  to 


284  THE  STRANGE  ATTRACTION 

dinner?  Are  they  the  cure  for  ruin?  My  heavens,  I'd 
call  myself  ruined  if  I  gave  them  the  importance  you  do. 
It's  you  who  are  being  ruined,  not  I.  When  you  can  take 
away  from  me  my  Beethoven,  and  the  stars  and  the  sun- 
sets and  the  sea,  and  my  own  thoughts  and  my  capacity 
to  love  all  the  things  I  do  love  I  might  agree  that  I  was 
ruined.  And  Dane  is  only  making  me  love  all  these  things 
the  more.  For  heaven's  sake,  don't  come  here  and  talk 
such  drivel  to  us." 

She  paused  for  breath,  and  her  father,  who  had  forgot- 
ten Dane  for  the  present,  and  was  roused  to  defend  him- 
self against  her,  broke  in  with  fierce  irritation. 

"  You  silly  fool !  Do  you  think  you're  the  first  person 
to  talk  this  way  and  to  live  to  find  out  you're  wrong? 
You're  going  to  lose  all  your  friends " 

"  There  you  go  again,  insulting  good  words.  Friends ! 
The  people  I  will  lose  were  never  friends  and  I'll  be  glad 
to  lose  them.  What  earthly  use  to  me  at  any  time  are 
people  who  don't  understand?  Don't  you  suppose  I've 
learned  how  few  friends  I  have?  Will  you  get  it  into  your 
head  that  I  don't  care  a  damn  about  Government  House 
dinners,  about  meeting  people  in  their  cheapest  and  most 
stupid  moods?  You  want  to  frighten  me  with  the  ostra- 
cism of  a  set.  Why,  I  ostracized  that  set  years  ago  my- 
self, and  the  hardest  thing  in  my  life  has  been  to  get  the 
damned  thing  to  let  go  of  me.  It  persists  in  coming  after 
me.  I  came  here  to  get  away  from  it  and  here  you  come 
after  me  slinging  it  at  me  again.  What  in  the  name  of 
reason  it  can  do  to  me  that  I  have  not  done  to  it  I  don't 
know.  And  you  have  the  cheek  to  say  I'll  miss  it.  If 
there  is  one  thing  on  earth  I  want,  it  is  to  miss  it,  to  lose 
it  forever.  I  wish  a  tidal  wave  would  come  up  and  sweep 
it  off  the  face  of  the  earth.  Honestly,  if  you  don't  want 
me  to  go  mad,  stop  talking  about  it." 


THE  STRANGE  ATTRACTION  285 

Dane  turned  abruptly  a  few  feet  away  so  that  they 
might  not  see  him  smile.  As  far  as  he  was  concerned  this 
was  beginning  to  be  funny. 

But  it  was  not  funny  to  Davenport  Carr,  now  power- 
less against  her. 

"  Do  you  know  that  the  whole  place  knows  you  are  liv- 
ing with  Barrington?  " 

"  It  can't  know  it.  But  it  loves  to  feed  its  nasty  minds 
on  the  idea.  It  loves  to  whisper  about  it  and  tell  tales 
about  it  and  lick  its  lips  over  it.  Yes,  of  course  it  does. 
And  just  because  it  is  like  that  I  despise  it,  and  won't 
have  anything  to  do  with  it.  But  if  you  want  to  know, 
I  am  living  with  Dane.  There's  nothing  extraordinary 
about  that,  is  there?  " 

Her  father  half  rose  out  of  his  chair  and  fell  back 
again. 

"  You  don't  mean  to  tell  me  you  have  come  up  here  to 
talk  to  us  about  morals!  Really,  my  dear  father — but 
your  advice  is  a  few  years  too  late.  And  when  I  think 
back  over  those  yachting  parties " 

"  Look  here,  Val,  you  can  leave  my  morals  out  of  this. 
I  did  not  come  to  talk  morals  to  either  of  you.  I  came 
to  talk  sense.  You  know  as  well  as  I  do,  unless  you're 
mad,  that  you  can't  do  what  I  did  or  what  any  man  does, 
and  there  are  things  a  man  can  do  and  things  he  cannot 
do " 

"  Oh,  yes,  I  remember.  You  told  Dane  he  had  seduced 
an  inexperienced  girl.  I  thank  you  for  the  compliment, 
but  I  was  not  an  inexperienced  girl." 

"  What  do  you  mean?  "  He  stared  up  at  her,  grasping 
the  arms  of  his  chair. 

She  went  on  much  more  quietly. 

"  Just  what  I  said.  I  was  not  an  inexperienced  girl, 
not  by  a  long  shot.  How  anyone  could  be  an  inexperi- 


286  THE  STRANGE  ATTRACTION 

enced  girl  after  the  life  on  that  yacht  of  yours — well — 
and  you  were  right  about  my  being  seduced — I  was — but 
Dane  was  not  the  man.  It  was  when  I  was  under  twenty, 
and  it  was  on  one  of  those  trips  of  yours.  The  atmos- 
phere of  your  yacht  did  rather  favour  seduction,  you 
know,  father.  And  the  man  was  one  of  the  dear,  friendly 
souls  prominent  to-day  in  your  set.  You  often  have  him 
to  dinner,  smiling  upon  mother  who  would  refuse  to  meet 
Dane — I  say,  hadn't  you  better  have  a  whisky?  Sit  down. 
I  have  a  lot  more  to  say " 

"Who  the  hell  is  that  man?"  Davenport  Carr  stood 
shaking  with  rage  in  front  of  her. 

"  Oh,  my  heavens !  If  you  men  could  only  see  how 
funny  you  are  about  us  women!  Sit  down,  and  listen  to 
me  as  Dane  listened  to  you." 

The  cold  contempt  in  her  tone  staggered  her  father. 
As  if  he  were  in  a  dream  he  sat  down. 

Dane  moved  up  a  step  or  two,  as  if  he  would  try  to 
stop  her.  But  he  saw  it  was  no  use.  She  went  on  remorse- 
lessly. 

"  I  shall  not  tell  you  the  name  of  that  man.  Why  should 
I?  I  understand  mood  and  impulse  now  better  than  I  did 
then.  He  is  a  charming  man,  much  older  than  I.  But 
then,  most  of  them  were.  You  had  very  clever  and  per- 
suasive friends,  my  dear  father.  I  will  say  that  for  them. 
And  I  was  an  inexperienced  girl,  emotional  and  idealistic 
and  trusting  the  men  you  introduced  me  to.  And  I  was 
flattered  by  their  attention,  and  I  got  a  little  drunk  with 
it.  And  I  did  not  see  what  they  were  after — all  of  them. 
And  then  one  night  this  man  was  too  much  for  me,  for 
like  a  silly  kid  I  thought  it  was  a  wonderful  thing  to  have 
a  clever  man  like  that  tell  me  he  loved  me,  and  I  lost  my 
head,  and  left  the  future  to  him — sit  still " 

"  Valerie,  I  will  not  sit  still !     By  God,  I  will  not !     I 


THE  STRANGE  ATTRACTION  287 

will  have  the  name  of  that  man — we  may  be  asking  him 
to  dinner  next  week." 

"  You  may,  indeed.  That  would  Be  one  of  the  pleasant 
little  contretemps  of  your  set,  one  of  the  reasons  why  I 
despise  it  so  heartily,  even  though  I  see  the  humour  of  it. 
I'm  sorry  it's  lost  on  you." 

Valerie  moved  to  the  red  table,  and  took  up  one  of  the 
goblets  of  whisky.  "  Here,  father !  " 

But  he  ignored  it,  and  dropped  speechless  and  shaking 
back  into  the  chair. 

She  went  on  quietly  now,  and  Dane  stood  leaning  against 
a  post  listening  to  her.  "  Well,  it  was  a  tragic  experience 
for  me,  for  the  man  was  such  a  cur  afterwards.  He  was 
scared  to  death,  was  terrified  lest  I  should  tell  you.  He 
made  it  all  so  ugly.  And  I  had  no  one  to  turn  to.  Can 
you  see  me  telling  mother — or  anybody?  I  had  such  a 
helpful  lot  of  relatives !  And  I  knew  then  what  it  was  to 
need  a  friend.  I  nearly  told  dear  old  Marie,  but  I  thought 
it  would  worry  her  so.  So  I  had  to  puzzle  it  out  alone. 
Most  of  us  do  when  we're  struggling  kids.  And  it  was 
awfully  hard,  because  I  saw  that  so  many  were  doing  the 
thing  I  had  done  and  thought  nothing  of  it,  but  I  knew  my 
one  night  was  all  wrong,  and  it  became  more  and  more 
horrid  as  I  thought  about  it,  and  it  was  awful  to  have  the 
man  so  scared  and  so  distrustful.  Oh,  it  made  me  so  sick. 
And  I  could  feel  it  all  in  the  air  about  me  when  I  went  on 
the  yacht,  but  I  played  the  game  and  went  as  if  nothing 
had  ever  happened  to  me.  I  had  learned  my  lesson.  That 
would  never  happen  to  me  again.  But  I  felt  it  about  me 
and  I  knew  you  were  in  it  too.  And  I  began  to  think 
about  it.  I  saw  that  just  being  sick  about  it  and  despis- 
ing everybody  didn't  settle  it.  I  began  to  read  books,  t;nd 
that  helped  me  a  lot.  I  got  a  different  point  of  view. 
And  I  tried  to  piece  you  all  together  again,  to  be  fair  to 


288  THE  STRANGE  ATTRACTION 

you.  And  I  tried  to  see  how  little  you  had  had  at  home 
except  a  lot  of  meaningless  show,  and  that  it  was  no  wonder 
you  had  taken  refuge  with  women  who  might  give  you  some- 
thing that  looked  real.  For  I  came  to  see  that  we  were  all 
after  something  that  was  real,  deep  down  inside  us,  only 
it  is  so  hard  to  know  what  is,  especially  when  you're 
young.  And  then  I  went  after  it  myself.  I  needed  some- 
thing to  blot  out  that  ugly  memory,  something  that  looked 
beautiful  to  me.  And  I  thought  I  was  in  love,  and  I  lived 
with  another  man,  before  I  came  up  here.  I  told  Dane 
that.  I  thought  it  was  the  fine  thing  I  wanted.  But  it 
didn't  turn  out  right.  I  wanted  it  too  much  as  a  refuge,  I 
see  that  now.  But  it  taught  me  what  one  must  have  to  be 
fine  in  love,  and  then  up  here " 

She  paused,  seeing  Lee  give  a  preliminary  peep  through 
the  door  as  if  to  decide  whether  it  was  an  appropriate  mo- 
ment to  bring  out  the  tea.  He  came  forward,  removed  the 
decanter  and  glasses  to  a  large  table,  and  put  the  tea  tray 
on  the  red  one,  saw  that  tobacco  and  matches  were  where 
they  should  be  and  went  ouL . 

His  exit  was  followed  by  a  curious  silence.  Dane  stood 
where  he  had  been  for  some  minutes,  with  the  fantail,  its 
curiosity  about  the  other  man  apparently  satisfied,  now 
flitting  about  his  head.  He  looked  up  at  it  once  and 
smiled  at  it.  Davenport  Carr  sat  doubled  up,  his  head 
down  on  his  clenched  hands,  pulverized  into  speechlessness. 
Valerie  looked  down  at  him,  and  her  anger  now  expended, 
pity  began  to  soften  the  contemptuous  coldness  of  her 
face.  She  moved  to  the  tea-table  and  sat  down  and  began 
to  pour  the  tea. 

Dane  turned,  caught  her  eye,  looked  meaningly  from 
her  to  her  father  and  walked  off  towards  the  back  of  the 
house.  Her  nerves  were  still  raw  enough  to  be  irritated 
by  this  hint.  But  she  spoke  quietly  to  her  father. 


THE  STRANGE  ATTRACTION  289 

"  You'd  better  have  some  tea." 

He  raised  his  rather  distracted  face  and  saw  that  they 
.were  alone. 

"  Do  you  think  I  can  drink  tea  after  all  you've  told  me? 
My  God !  my  game  little  kid " 

To  her  astonishment  his  shoulders  shook,  and  his  head 
fell  again  into  his  hands.  As  she  had  never  seen  him  any- 
where near  the  border  of  tears  her  first  impulse  was  to  put 
her  arms  round  him.  But  because  she  could  not  tell  ex- 
actly what  was  in  his  mind  she  did  not  move. 

"  For  heaven's  sake,  dad,  buck  up.  I'm  all  right.  I'm 
not  going  to  have  my  life  spoiled,  you  know.  It  was  so 
silly  of  you  to  say  that.  I  didn't  mean  to  lose  my  temper 
so  badly,  but  you  know  it  does  make  me  so  mad  to  hear  all 
that  rot.  And  then  it  made  me  so  mad  to  hear  what  you 
said  to  Dane,  as  if  he  were  to  blame." 

He  looked  up,  and  seeing  her  as  he  thought  softened,  he 
leaned  towards  her. 

"  Look  here,  old  girl,  there  was  only  one  reason  why  I 
came  up  here.  I  did  not  come  to  call  Barrington  names, 
but  I  got  mad  in  spite  of  myself,  he  was  so  damned  cool. 
But  I  came  to  beg  you  to  stop  this.  And  even  after  all 
you've  said  I  still  do.  The  other  things  are  dead  and 
buried.  But  you'll  never  bury  this." 

"  And  what  if  I  don't,  and  don't  want  to?  " 

"  Oh,  Dick,  old  girl,  please  listen  to  me.  Don't  get  mad 
again." 

"  All  right,  go  on." 

"  You're  infatuated  now,  Dick.  And  you  can't  see  the 
thing  in  any  proportion " 

"  Suppose  I  married  him,"  she  interrupted. 

"  Oh,  that  would  be  madness.  It  would  never  last. 
Nothing  ever  did  with  him  as  far  as  I  can  make  out.  His 
relations  with  women  are  just  hopeless.  He'd  desert  you, 


290  THE  STRANGE  ATTRACTION 

or  you  would  have  to  leave  him  in  a  year  or  two.  Any- 
thing but  that.  Get  away  from  it  now  and  it  will  all  blow 
over.  You've  got  a  future,  my  dear  girl.  You  could 
marry  anybody.  I  want  you  to  get  away  from  it  at  once, 
Dick.  I'm  going  to  give  you  a  couple  of  thousand  pounds 
to  go  to  London,  Europe,  travel  for  a  year  or  two,  and  get 
over  it." 

"  That's  awfully  good  of  you,  dad.  But  you  are  over- 
looking something.  What  am  I  to  do  with  my  moral 
sense?  I've  let  him  care  for  me,  in  fact  I  made  him  care 
for  me,  you  know." 

The  coldness  of  her  tone  chilled  her  father. 

"  Oh,  we  all  think  it's  our  moral  sense.  Don't  you  sup- 
pose I  know  something  about  human  nature?  "  he  said,  a 
little  impatiently.  "And  of  course  you  think  his  heart 
will  be  broken.  That's  where  you  women  are  all  so  silly. 
If  Barrington  told  the  truth  he'd  be  the  first  person  to  be 
amused  at  that  idea." 

"  He  might  be.  Indeed,  I  think  he  would.  But  the 
point  of  all  this  is  that  I  care,  that  I  believe  he  cares.  I 
have  to  live  with  that  belief  for  the  present  at  least. 
What  have  you  to  say  to  that  ?  " 

"  It's  just  romantic  nonsense.  And  you'll  live  to  see 
it." 

"  It's  romantic  indeed,  dad,  but  it  isn't  nonsense.  And 
now  that  I  know  what  you  think  about  it  it  amuses  me  to 
think  that  Dane  insisted  on  marrying  me  a  month  ago, 
really  out  of  consideration  for  you,  out  of  respect  for 
your  code — now  you  needn't  look  like  that 

"Married!  You're  married!  Why  the  deuce  wasn't  I 
told  this  before?  " 

"  Goodness  me,  what  Hifference  does  it  make?  Do  }rou 
forget  what  you've  been  saying  about  it?  " 

Her  father  gave  her  one  look,  got  to  his  feet,  took  up 


THE  STRANGE  ATTRACTION  291 

His  hat  and  without  another  word  stumbled  off  down  the 
steps,  and  went  round  the  front  of  the  house. 

She  sat  still  for  a  minute  and  then  her  lips  began  to 
quiver.  She  bit  them  into  steadiness,  and  getting  up  went 
in  to  change  her  clothes,  and  bathe  her  hot  face.  She 
went  back  to  the  verandah  dressed  in  white,  feeling  shaken 
now  herself  by  the  temper  she  had  been  in.  Seeing  no  sign 
of  Dane  she  whistled  for  him,  and  he  came  from  the  back 
of  the  house. 

"  Why,  where  is  he?  "  he  asked  as  he  came  up  the  steps. 

"  He's  gone." 

"  Gone!  My  dear,  you  haven't  let  him  go,  have  you?  " 
He  stopped  at  the  top  of  the  steps  looking  at  her. 

"  Oh,  I  told  him  we  were  married,  Dane.  And  he  got 
up  and  went  without  a  word.  It's  the  only  sensible  thing 
he's  done  since  he  came." 

A  pained  look  flashed  over  his  eyes.  He  walked  to  the 
tea-table,  lifted  the  lid  of  the  pot,  and  then  rang  the  bell. 

"  Make  us  some  fresh  tea,  would  you  please,  Lee." 

Valerie  stood  still,  stung  by  the  fact  that  he  was  ignor- 
ing her. 

Turning  at  the  table  he  looked  at  her  a  little  wearily. 
"  Well,  old  girl,  what  have  you  gained  by  keeping  the 
marriage  secret?  If  you  call  this  kind  of  thing  freedom, 
I  don't." 

"  I  don't  care  what  you  call  it.  He  had  no  business  to 
come  and  interfere,  to  call  you  names " 

"  Oh,  forget  them,  please." 

"  But  that  wasn't  the  worst.  He  came  here  to  bribe 
me — to  bribe  me  to  go  away  from  you.  He  offered  me  the 
thing  he  knows  I've  wanted  for  years — tried  my  weakest 
spot — and  now — and  now " 

He  took  a  step  towards  her  and  stopped,  drooping  his 
shoulders  and  putting  his  head  on  one  side. 


292  THE  STRANGE  'ATTRACTION 

"  Come  Here,  Valerie,"  He  said  in  a  voice  of  irresistible 
appeal.  And  at  the  light  in  his  eyes  she  felt  as  if  she  had 
come  out  of  a  long  black  tunnel  into  the  sweet  freshness  of 
a  sunlit  glade. 

She  moved  slowly  to  him  and  all  her  anger  and  resent- 
ment died  down  as  she  felt  his  arms  close  about  her. 

"  I  want  you  to  promise  me  something,  dear,"  he  said, 
lifting  his  lips  from  hers. 

"  Oh,  anything." 

"  Don't  be  reckless." 

"Well,  what  is  it?" 

"  Don't  get  angry  like  that  again.  And  don't  make  a 
ghost  of  your  father." 

"  Why,  I  can't  help  it.  He  is  a  ghost  now.  He  made 
himself  a  ghost." 

"  No,  no.  Let's  start  him  all  over  again  as  something 
else.  I  like  him,  you  know." 

Her  eyes  glistened,  and  she  was  preparing  to  throw  her 
arms  about  him  when  Lee  came  through  the  door  with  the 
fresh  pot  of  tea. 


CHAPTER  XVI 


AS  far  as  Dargaville  was  concerned,  Valerie's  mar- 
riage to  Dane  did  not  cause  anything  like  the 
talk  her  staying  on  the  paper  afterwards  aroused. 
It  was  strange  that  certain  feminist  claims  were  almost 
unheard  of  in  the  country  that  boasted  the  most  advanced 
legislation  in  the  world  for  women.  A  married  woman 
who  had  struck  disaster  in  her  husband  or  in  her  financial 
affairs  could,  of  course,  earn  her  own  living  with  the  un- 
derstanding and  blessing  of  the  community.  But  that  a 
bride  of  established  position  should  wish  to  do  so  was 
carrying  the  theory  of  independence  a  little  further  than 
it  had  so  far  been  carried,  even  in  that  land.  It  could 
only  mean,  it  was  thought,  that  she  was  eccentric  or  un- 
duly desirous  of  attention.  Still,  though  it  talked,  Dar- 
gaville soon  calmed  down.  It  was  her  relatives  who  con- 
tinued to  be  disgusted  and  indignant,  and  the  more  so  as 
she  utterly  ignored  their  letters  on  the  subject. 

Dane  went  to  Auckland  two  weeks  after  Davenport 
Carr's  visit,  and  when  he  returned  he  waited  in  the  town 
till  Valerie  was  finished  on  the  paper  and  took  her  home 
with  him.  He  had  been  away  less  than  a  week,  but  she 
had  missed  him,  and  she  was  delighted  to  get  away  this 
sizzling  February  day  to  the  shades  of  his  garden.  She 
could  have  gone  out  in  his  absence,  as  he  had  begged  her 
to,  but  she  had  not  done  so.  She  had  walked  out  to  the 
coast  at  night  instead. 

"  Did  you  see  dad?  "  she  asked,  when  they  were  out  in 
the  launch. 

293 


294  THE  STRANGE  ATTRACTIOX 

"  Yes,  dear,  I  went  to  see  him.  I  told  you  I  was  going 
on  business." 

"  Oh.     And  what  did  he  say  to  you  ?  " 

"  Well,  he  was  rather  pathetic,  if  you  want  to  know. 
Absurdly  hurt  that  you  had  not  told  him  before  about  the 
marriage." 

"  What !     But  he  would  have  opposed  it." 

"  Yes,  he  would." 

"  Well,  Dane,"  she  stared  at  him. 

"  Absurd,  I  know,  dear.  But  he  is  not  opposing  us 
now.  He's  beastly  humble." 

"  You've  made  him  so,  then." 

"  No,  no.     He  did  some  thinking  after  what  you  said." 

"  I'm  glad  to  hear  it." 

"  He  wants  to  get  me  into  his  club." 

rtWhat!" 

"  I  know,  it  is  funny,  isn't  it?  But  I  told  him  I'd  never 
use  the  damned  thing,  that  I  did  not  want  it  anyway." 

"  Oh,  I  am  glad.  You  never  want  to  go  back  to  that 
kind  of  thing,  do  you?  " 

"  No,  dear,  I  do  not."  And  his  tone  was  emphatic 
enough  to  please  even  her. 

That  night  after  dinner  as  they  lay  together  in  the 
hammock  he  took  a  paper  out  of  his  pocket  and  handed 
it  to  her.  She  opened  it  and  stared  at  it  in  astonishment. 
It  was  a  cheque  for  a  thousand  pounds.  He  thought  her 
reception  of  it  was  the  most  extraordinary  thing  of  the 
kind  he  had  ever  seen. 

"Why,  what  is  this?"  she  asked,  raising  puzzled 
eyes. 

"  Have  you  never  seen  a  cheque  before?  "  he  smiled. 

"  You  are  giving  me  this  ?  " 

"Well,  what  is  surprising  atiout  it,  dear?  You  are  my 
wife,  you  know,  and  a  man  may  give  money  to  his  wife. 


THE  STRANGE  ATTRACTION  295 

He  may  even  give  money  to  his  lover,  if  you  wish  us  to 
ignore  the  ceremony  terms  in  our  dealings  with  each  other. 
I'm  not  buying  you,  you  ridiculous  child.  Good  Lord! 
you  do  carry  your  theories  over  the  mountains  and  into 
the  sea,  don't  you?  What  is  it  you  suspect  me  of?  For 
I  can  see  suspicion  in  your  eyes." 

"  I'm  beginning  to  suspect  you  of  the  sinister  innocence 
of  the  drop  of  water  that  wears  away  the  stone,"  she  said, 
half  smiling,  half  glaring  at  him. 

"  The  stone  doesn't  mind." 

She  had  risen,  and  she  now  dropped  down  into  his  arms. 

"  I  must  seem  a  bit  queer,  dear.  And,  please,  I  think 
it's  lovely  of  you." 

Two  weeks  later  her  father  sent  her  five  hundred  pounds 
as  a  peace  offering  and  as  a  wedding  present.  The  night 
she  received  it  she  sat  out  late  by  herself  on  the  balcony. 
She  had  now  almost  two  thousand  pounds,  and  one  of  the 
reasons  for  her  staying  on  the  News  had  ceased  to  exist. 
It  was  this  fact  that  she  sat  there  considering. 

But  she  had  considered  other  things  besides  money  in 
her  decision  to  go  on  with  her  work.  She  felt  very 
strongly  that  love  was  soonest  killed  by  its  own  tendency 
to  burn  itself  up.  She  had  already  learned  that  she  and 
Dane  were  potently  stimulating  to  each  other,  and  that  it 
would  be  difficult  living  together  every  day  to  preserve  the 
balance  between  abandonment  and  discipline  that  she  de- 
sired. 

And  then  she  liked  the  contrast  between  her  week  of 
activity  and  her  week-end  of  petting  and  luxurious  relaxa- 
tion. She  had  a  fresh  thrill  every  Saturday  afternoon 
when  she  met  Dane  at  the  launch,  and  she  had  another 
kind  of  stimulation  when  she  walked  into  the  office  on 
Monday  morning. 

He  had  not  said  one  word  to  shake  her  decision.     But 


296  THE  STRANGE  ATTRACTION 

he  thought  with  a  smile  of  the  heat  and  the  flies  and  the 
ugliness  of  Mac's  hotel.  And  he  made  her  week-ends  al- 
luring and  beautiful. 

About  the  middle  of  the  autumn  Valerie  asked  herself 
again,  as  she  walked  on  the  coast  road  one  night,  if  she 
really  did  want  to  go  through  the  winter  on  the  paper. 
Various  influences  had  been  at  work  upon  her  in  the  last 
month.  As  a  place  of  residence,  Mac's  was  becoming  un- 
bearable, her  room  more  like  a  box  every  day,  and  the 
dining-room  the  last  word  in  sordidness.  The  curtains, 
always  sagging  and  uneven,  had  become  intolerably  so  by 
the  number  of  times  noticed.  The  serrated  and  ravined 
cut  glass  on  the  sideboard,  viewed  with  indifference  for  a 
thousand  times,  had  become  painful  at  one  thousand  and 
one.  And  always  as  she  lay  in  bed  now  she  could  smell 
the  amalgamated  pungency  of  the  beer  from  the  front  and 
the  stables  at  the  back.  Even  Bob  and  Father  Ryan  had 
suffered  some  kind  of  eclipse,  and  as  table  company,  had 
become  dull. 

And  as  she  walked  there  drifted  through  her  mind  with 
the  force  of  a  warning  the  lines  Dane  had  humorously 
quoted  to  her  one  night  when  she  had  read  to  him  the  first 
letter  her  mother  had  written  after  hearing  of  the  mar- 
riage— "  Some  little  talk  a  while  of  me  and  thee  There 
seemed,  and  then  no  more  of  thee  and  me." 

"  No  more  of  thee  and  me."  The  words  repeated  them- 
selves over  and  over  in  her  brain.  Then  she  told  herself 
for  the  hundredth  time  that  she  was  thinking  only  of  her- 
self, that  she  had  done  nothing  but  think  of  herself.  And 
after  all  her  own  contract  demanded  that  she  think  of 
Dane.  She  was  not  keeping  her  own  terms. 

He  saw  two  nights  later,  as  she  lay  with  him  in  the 
hammock,  that  she  had  something  on  her  mind. 

When  she  had  smoked  half  her  cigarette  she  threw  it 


THE  STRANGE  ATTRACTION  297 

out  into  the  garden,  and  wriggled  up  and  looked  down  at 
his  face  below  her  in  the  dusk. 

"  Dane." 

"Well?" 

"  I  am  getting  a  bit  sick  of  the  paper." 

A  smile  flashed  across  his  eyes.  "  I've  teen  wondering 
what  you  thought  you  were  getting  out  of  it  now." 

"  Well,  that's  it.  I  think  I've  learned  all  I  can  from 
it." 

"  I  should  think  you  had.  If  you  want  to  do  original 
writing  you  ought  to  get  at  it.  You  have  to  practise 
writing  as  you  do  the  piano.  That  ought  to  give  you 
some  idea  of  what  is  before  you,  especially  if  you  want  to 
do  a  novel." 

She  looked  down  at  him.  She  had  expected  him  to  ask 
at  once  when  she  would  come  to  live  with  him. 

"  Yes,  I  suppose  it  isn't  as  easy  as  I  think  it  is,"  she 
said  slowly.  Then  she  looked  past  his  head  into  the 
shadows  deepening  in  the  garden. 

"  I've  decided  this  week  that  I'll  go  to  Sydney  for  the 
winter.  I  want  to  see  about  getting  my  poems  published 
over  there.  Would  you  like  to  come  with  me?  "  He  said 
it  very  lightly,  as  if  he  were  proposing  a  walk  round  the 
house. 

.Valerie  sat  up  and  stared  down  into  his  face. 

"  You  are  going  to  Sydney — in  any  case?  " 

"  Why  certainly.  I  want  to  arrange  about  getting 
some  more  work  in  Australian  papers." 

She  continued  to  stare  at  him. 

"  What's  the  trouble,  Miss  Freedom?  " 

"  You  would  go  away?  " 

"  On  business,  dear.  I  have  to.  And  I'm  asking  you 
to  come.  Of  course,  you're  a  free  agent " 

Her  hand  smothered  the  rest,  and  half  fiercely,  half 


298  THE  STRANGE  ATTRACTION 

caressingly  she  seized  his  head  and  beat  it  against  the 
cushions. 

She  gave  Bob  a  month's  notice  the  next  day. 


II 

At  the  end  of  June  they  slipped  away  to  Sydney,  pass- 
ing through  Auckland  without  seeing  anyone  but  Valerie's 
father,  and  they  returned  at  the  end  of  August  in  the 
same  secretive  manner. 

Valerie  was  delighted  with  Sydney,  delighted  with 
Dane's  friends,  and  meeting  for  the  first  time  in  her  life 
a  friendly  community  of  artists,  found  it  the  thing  she 
had  dreamed  about,  the  world  in  which  she  wanted  to 
shine.  But  there  was  a  fly  in  the  honey.  The  dining 
and  wining  were  not  good  for  Dane.  And  there  were  two 
occasions  on  which  he  disappeared  for  the  best  part  of 
three  days. 

So  that  by  the  time  they  returned  to  settle  down  to 
life  together  at  the  old  mission  house  she  knew  well  he 
had  chosen  the  better  half  of  wisdom  when  he  had  left  the 
life  of  cities  behind  him.  And  she  was  by  no  means  sorry 
herself  to  have  the  prospect  of  work  and  peace  ahead  of 
her  there  for  a  while.  She  was  content  to  leave  a  remoter 
future  to  take  care  of  itself. 

They  had  discussed  on  the  voyage  home  what  they 
would  do  to  the  house  to  make  it  a  proper  custodian  of 
the  rights  of  two  such  individualistic  beings  as  they  were. 
The  first  thing  they  agreed  on  was  that  unless  one  of  them 
felt  an  overwhelming  urge,  which  was  not  to  be  encour- 
aged, they  should  not  meet  till  lunch  time.  Dane  did  a 
good  deal  of  his  work  at  night  and  often  slept  late.  Va- 
lerie was  very  anxious  that  his  ways  should  not  be  inter- 
fered with,  and  he  was  as  anxious  as  she  that  parts  of  his 


TSE  STRANGE  ATTRACTION  299 

house  should  be  private,  that  he  should  be  able  to  £e  alone 
when  he  wished,  and  particularly  that  he  should  be  able 
to  keep  his  moods  from  her  as  much  as  possible. 

The  changes  were  inexpensively  made.  Across  the  hall 
from  the  study  were  two  rooms,  one  of  which  had  been 
occupied  by  Dane  as  an  indoor  bedroom  and  the  other  by 
the  boys.  This  space  was  now  given  over  to  Valerie,  and 
an  extension  was  added  at  the  rear  of  the  house  giving  the 
boys  a  large  and  sunny  room  off  the  kitchen,  and  Dane 
himself  a  bedroom  and  a  small  study  where  he  could  write 
at  night  when  Valerie  wished  to  play  the  piano.  This  lat- 
ter room  opened  directly  into  his  den.  This  arrangement 
put  Valerie  on  one  side  of  the  hall  and  him  on  the  other, 
with  common  ground  in  the  front  study,  and  in  the  bath- 
room which  was  on  her  side  next  the  kitchen.  It  was  un- 
derstood they  would  not  invade  each  other's  privacy  with- 
out invitation. 

Valerie  had  her  section  of  the  verandah,  too,  that  out- 
side her  own  rooms,  fitted  up  with  a  sleeping-cot  and  a 
table  and  chairs. 

As  there  was  no  dining-room,  lunch,  always  a  tray 
affair,  was  to  be  served  as  he  or  she  might  fancy.  The 
location  of  dinner  had  the  same  pleasant  uncertainty.  In 
some  moods  Dane  liked  it  served  ceremoniously  in  his  den, 
in  others  he  liked  it  in  the  study.  More  often,  and  when 
it  was  fine,  he  liked  it  out-of-doors. 

She  had  seen  at  once  that  she  must  take  no  part  in  the 
running  of  the  house.  Beyond  making  her  own  bed,  dust- 
ing her  own  things,  keeping  her  own  writing-table  tidy, 
and  arranging  with  the  boys  to  take  her  laundry  in  and 
out  of  Dargaville,  there  was  nothing  for  her  to  do.  It 
seemed  that  never  in  her  wildest  dreams  could  she  have 
hoped  for  a  more  harmonious  atmosphere  in  which  to  try 
to  write. 


Dane  told  himself  he  had  never  been  happier  in  his  life. 
He  did  not  know  what  she  did  to  him,  but  with  her  he  was 
less  disturbed  with  the  sense  of  his  own  futility,  and  better 
able  to  work  than  he  had  been  for  some  time.  And  now, 
too,  he  had  a  real  need  to  work.  It  had  cut  a  little  into 
his  income  to  give  Valerie  the  money  and  the  holiday,  and 
to  make  the  changes  to  the  house.  And  though  his  poems 
had  been  published  in  a  blaze  of  publicity  and  were  selling 
well  as  things  went  there,  he  saw  he  must  keep  up  a  certain 
output  if  he  was  to  give  his  wife  things  he  now  wished  to 
give  her.  He  had  got  along  very  comfortably  before 
without  doing  much.  He  had  set  aside  a  sum  he  would 
never  under  any  circumstances  cut  down  to  leave  to  his 
boys  and  to  see  them  back  to  China,  in  the  event  of  any- 
thing happening  to  himself.  That  was  in  the  hands  of 
Davenport  Carr  as  a  trust.  He  now  wished  to  get  ahead 
of  his  expenses  and  provide  something  for  Valerie.  This 
was  a  stimulus  that  did  him  good,  reinforced  his  rather 
feeble  sense  of  being  of  some  use  in  the  world. 


Ill 

"  Now  aren't  you  glad  I  stuck  out  and  refused  to  go?  " 
"  Oh  yes,  I  really  am,  dear.     I  loathe  Christmas  parties 
as  much  as  3Tou  do.     But  I  think  you  might  have  tempered 
the  refusal  with  a  little — well  " — Dane  waved  his  hands  ex- 
pressively,— "  been  a  little  more  delicate " 

"  My  dear  boy,  relatives  don't  understand  delicacy. 
The  only  thing  that  will  make  a  dent  in  their  egotism  is  a 
brick.  Even  then  their  eclipse  is  only  temporary.  If 
there  is  a  more  vital  thing  on  earth  than  the  egotism  of  a 
relative  I'd  like  to  meet  it.  I  assure  you  the  minute  I 
show  signs  of  delicacy  they  think  I'm  weakening,  or  re- 


THE  STRANGE  ATTRACTION  301 

forming,  or  learning  to  appreciate  the  wisdom  of  their 
ways,  and  then  they  begin  to  wheedle  and  bribe." 

"  Well,  I  must  admit  that  when  I  hear  you  talk  I  feel 
I  ought  to  be  glad  I  never  had  any."  He  looked  up  from 
the  hammock  at  a  crack  in  the  verandah  roof  where  a  frail 
twig  of  honeysuckle  had  defied  the  opposition  of  shingles 
and  was  wriggling  through. 

Valerie,  who  was  sitting  in  a  chair  beside  him,  took  one 
of  his  hands  and  laid  it  against  her  cheek. 

"  You  had  two  very  effective  ones,  old  dear,  and  they 
got  a  wonderful  inspiration  in  a  certain  hour  thirty-eight 
years  ago." 

His  eyes  glowed  over  the  edge  of  the  hammock  at  her. 

"  You  know,  you're  going  to  spoil  me." 

"  Oh  no,  you'd  nothing  to  do  with  this.  They  did  it, 
and  then  they  had  the  sense  to  die  and  leave  you  free." 

He  smiled  whimsically  at  her.  "Ah,  I  sometimes  won- 
der how  free  they  left  me.  That  is  the  funny  part  of  it. 
I'm  not  nearly  so  free  as  you  are,  after  all.  Just  see  how 
powerless  I  have  been  against  your  father.  In  spite  of  all 
I  could  say  he  elects  me  to  his  club  with  a  flourish,  pays 
my  dues,  insists  on  my  dining  there  in  full  view  of  Auck- 
land's greatest,  and  hey  presto!  I'm  back  in  society  and 
may  be  invited  to  a  Christmas  dinner.  Ye  gods  and  little 
fishes!" 

"  Well,  he  felt  he  had  to  do  something  for  you  after  the 
way  he  behaved." 

"  That's  not  the  point.  The  point  is  I  could  not  resist 
him,  and  yet  they  cannot  move  you  one  inch." 

"  They  would  move  me  fast  enough  if  they  had  one 
honest  decent  emotion  about  us,  if  they  had  anything  in 
their  minds  but  their  beastly  curiosity  and  their  conde- 
scension. I  can  see  them  sitting  round  discussing  us  with 
an  awful  solemnity.  Mother  would  gather  them  together, 


302  THE  STRANGE  ATTRACTION 

and  they  would  go  into  the  problem  as  to  which  of  the 
heads  would  be  implicated  in  dinner  invitations,  as  to 
which  of  them  would  give  us  a  lunch  or  a  tea,  as  to  how 
much  further  they  would  have  to  go,  as  to  whether  the 
younger  children  should  be  allowed  a  glimpse  of  the  star 
sinner  of  the  da}7,  and  so  on.  You  see  I've  heard  it  all 
before.  Not  a  single  spontaneous  feeling  about  us,  just  a 
calculating  fitting  of  us  in  to  their  scheme  of  things,  and 
underneath  the  rules  and  regulations  the  women  would 
want  to  see  us,  because  they  want  to  feed  their  nasty 
dribbling  sensations  on  what  they  think  marriage  to  you 
has  done  to  me  and  on  what  they  think  being  a  sinner  has 
done  to  you.  Those  aunts  of  mine  are  like  radium,  they 
bore  into  your  insides  looking  for  things,  and  they  just 
gloat  on  brides  and  bridegrooms — what's  the  matter? 
Am  I  talking  too  much?  " 

"  Well,  honestly,  dear,  though  you  are  very  eloquent 
about  your  relatives,  I  am  a  bit  sick  of  them.  Since  you 
have  turned  them  all  into  ghosts  why  not  let  them  be 
peacefully  laid?  " 

"  But  they  won't  behave  like  proper  ghosts.  You  see 
how  they  appear  at  our  elbows  every  now  and  then  and 
wave  a  skinny  hand."  She  smiled  over  the  edge  of  the 
hammock  at  him. 

"  Oh  Val,  delicious  Val.  You  ought  to  be  on  the  stage. 
Come  in  here,  I  want  to  kiss  you." 

"  I  don't  want  to  be  kissed.     I  want  to  play  Chopin." 

"  You'll  play  all  the  better  if  I  kiss  you  first." 

She  laughed  and  clambered  in  to  him. 

After  a  while  she  started  up.  "  Oh,  I  forgot  to  give 
something  to  Michael,"  she  said  regretfully. 

"  Oh,  did  you  ?  Well,  I  gave  him  a  sovereign,  so  that 
will  do  for  both  of  us.  But  I  thought  you  didn't  believe 
in  Christmas." 


THE  STRANGE  ATTRACTION  303 

"  Well,  now,  Dane,  I  do  have  some  sentiment." 

"  I  should  think  you  had.  There  are  times  when  you 
are  sticky  with  it." 

"All  right,  beast.  I  won't  kiss  you  for  a  week."  She 
wriggled  out  of  the  hammock,  pretending  to  be  mightily 
offended,  and  stood  frowning  at  him.  She  was  piqued 
that  he  had  made  no  move  to  hold  her  back.  He  merely 
smiled  mockingly  up  at  her. 

"  I  suppose  you  think  you  could  keep  that  resolution," 
he  said,  his  eyes  on  hers. 

"  I  could."     She  glared  back  defiantly. 

"  Well,  it  would  be  a  pyrrhic  victory  if  ever  there  was 
one,"  he  smiled. 

She  rudely  poked  out  her  tongue  at  him,  and  walked  to 
the  verandah  steps,  and  looked  out  into  the  garden. 

He  looked  at  her  for  a  few  minutes  as  she  stood  profiled 
against  a  mass  of  honeysuckle,  then  he  reached  for  his 
pipe  and  tobacco  and  began  to  smoke. 

It  was  a  clear  evening,  with  the  promise  of  fine  weather 
for  Christmas  and  Boxing  days.  The  first  stars  projected 
their  feeble  light  through  the  last  reflection  of  a  very  red 
sunset.  Now  and  again  the  sharp  cry  of  a  weka  in  the 
bush  behind  or  the  call  of  a  morepork  in  the  pines  cut  the 
air.  A  few  crickets  already  reminded  an  optimistic  world 
that  this  summer  would  go  the  way  of  all  others  as  they 
sang  of  the  falling  of  the  leaves  and  the  coming  of  the 
deadly  winds. 

Valerie  turned  from  the  steps,  walked  back  to  the  ham- 
mock, leaned  down  over  Dane  and  kissed  his  hair.  Then 
she  went  off  through  the  door  into  the  study. 

After  a  short  silence  the  opening  bars  of  one  of  his 
favourite  Preludes  floated  out  to  Dane.  He  put  down  his 
pipe,  settled  back  in  his  cushions,  and  threw  his  arm  across 
his  face  with  a  feeling  of  great  content.  It  was  a  perfect 
Christmas  Eve. 


304  THE  STRANGE  ATTRACTION 

IV 

One  close  night  the  following  February  Valerie  rose 
from  the  piano  a  little  worn  out.  But  it  had  relieved  her 
enormously  to  crash  through  the  Appassionata  and  the 
Pathetique  and  two  of  Rachmaninof's  Preludes.  She  had 
played  them  in  a  tense  and  rageful  manner,  and  the  sounds 
had  swelled  about  the  house  and  echoed  about  the  garden. 

She  walked  out  to  the  verandah  expecting  to  see  Dane 
in  the  hammock  where  she  had  left  him  earlier  in  the  even- 
ing. But  he  was  not  there.  She  glanced  into  his  den,  to 
which  all  three  doors  were  wide  open.  He  was  not  there 
either.  She  sat  down  and  lit  a  cigarette  waiting  for  him 
to  appear.  But  he  did  not  appear.  She  wondered  if  he 
had  gone  into  his  back  room  to  write.  She  got  up  and 
stole  softly  along  the  path,  but  there  was  no  glow  or  sign 
of  light  there.  Then  she  began  to  wonder  if  he  had  gone 
off  to  Mac's  while  she  was  playing,  gone  off  to  escape  from 
the  mood  that  had  overwhelmed  him  all  day. 

It  was  a  mood  that  had  shaken  her  and  the  whole  coun- 
try. The  news  of  the  discovery  of  the  death  of  Captain 
Scott  and  his  companions  on  their  return  from  the  South 
Pole  had  reached  New  Zealand  two  days  before,  and  that 
afternoon  Dane  had  gone  into  Dargaville  for  the  Auck- 
land papers  and  the  latest  telegrams  on  the  subject,  and 
since  his  return  both  he  and  she  had  been  speechless. 

Valerie  had  shut  herself  in  her  room  with  one  paper,  and 
when  she  appeared  for  dinner  her  eyes  were  a  little  red. 
Neither  she  nor  Dane  were  able  to  more  than  pick  at  their 
food.  They  did  not  attempt  to  talk  about  the  tragedy. 
It  depressed  Dane  terribly.  He  had  been  nervous  and 
irritable  for  a  week,  not  irritable  at  Valerie,  that  he  never 
was.  She  could  have  borne  it  better  if  he  had  been,  for 
then  she  could  have  snapped  back  at  him.  But  as  there 


THE  STRANGE  ATTRACTION  305 

was  nothing  personal  in  such  moods  there  was  nothing  she 
could  do  but  ignore  them. 

This  was  the  first  bad  one  he  had  had  since  they  had 
been  in  Sydney.  Up  till  then  he  had  been  so  much  better 
that  she  had  even  begun  to  hope  that  love  would  get  the 
best  of  the  weaknesses  that  had,  she  thought,  been  encour- 
aged a  good  deal  by  loneliness.  When  she  had  seen  him 
growing  listless  and  eating  less  a  week  before,  she  had 
suggested  he  go  down  to  the  coast,  as  he  had  done  when 
alone,  but  when  he  saw  she  did  not  want  to  go  with  the 
cottagers  there  he  did  not  want  to  either.  He  was  be- 
coming more  and  more  dependent  on  her  for  company. 
Even  when  he  did  not  want  to  talk  he  liked  to  know  she 
was  near  him. 

She  walked  round  the  house  and  about  the  garden. 
She  did  not  like  to  call  for  him,  knowing  that  when  he 
wanted  her  he  would  come  for  her  himself.  But  she  would 
have  liked  to  have  known  he  was  there,  and  that  he  had 
not  gone  to  Mac's. 

Then  she  told  herself  she  was  silly  to  anticipate.  That 
was  what  so  many  women  did.  She  began  to  think  again 
of  the  end  of  Captain  Scott  and  his  gallant  little  band. 
What  a  story!  She  sat  abashed  and  shaken  before  it. 
It  seemed  to  her  the  most  wonderful  thing  in  the  world 
that  men  could  face  death  and  make  of  it  what  those  men 
made  of  it.  Surely  when  men  could  die  like  that  there  was 
something  beyond.  Unconsciously  her  mind  began  to 
work  on  it,  and  she  wondered  if  she  could  write  what  she 
felt  about  it.  Dane  had  been  wired  to  from  three  papers 
for  an  article.  Perhaps  he  had  gone  off  to  think  about 
that,  and  it  would  be  fine,  she  thought,  if  she  could  do 
anything  that  was  good  enough  for  publication.  After 
walking  about  for  a  while  she  went  inside,  and  seeing  the 
supper  tray  with  wine  and  cold  food  that  was  usually  left 


306  THE  STRANGE  ATTRACTION 

in  the  study  she  found  she  was  hungry.  She  ate  some  cold 
chicken  and  drank  some  wine.  Then  she  went  into  her 
front  room  and  sat  down  at  her  writing-table. 

But  she  could  not  think  of  anything  to  say  now.  She 
stared  at  the  beautiful  Norman  Lindsay  drawing  of 
Dane's  head  that  he  had  given  her  for  his  Christmas  pres- 
ent, and  it  seemed  to  her  that  she  had  never  before  noticed 
how  well  the  artist  had  reproduced  the  sensitiveness  of  that 
disturbing  face.  And  she  began  to  think  that  though  she 
had  lived  with  him  for  over  a  year,  and  loved  him  more  it 
seemed  to  her  every  month,  she  understood  him  no  better 
than  she  had  done  in  the  first  week.  It  was  strange  to 
love  a  thing  one  could  not  understand. 

She  deliberately  turned  away  from  it  trying  to  forget 
it,  looked  round  her  attractive  study,  and  had  a  momen- 
tary delight  in  the  peace  she  had  in  it.  Her  rooms  were 
small  and  furnished  plainly  enough,  except  for  the  rugs 
and  hangings  that  Dane  insisted  she  have  to  provide 
warmth  and  colour.  With  the  exception  of  her  piano,  she 
had  brought  up  her  own  things  from  Auckland,  and  her 
own  books  and  some  of  her  own  pictures  were  there  against 
the  tinted  walls.  But  she  had  been  amused  to  discover  the 
changes  that  had  come  over  her  taste.  No  longer  did  her 
prints  of  popular  Academy  pictures  please  her.  The 
Laughing  Cavalier  and  her  Watts  and  Rossetti  things 
were  stuck  away  in  a  drawer.  Her  bits  of  Crown  Derby 
and  Doulton  looked  merely  pretty  and  feeble  beside  Dane's 
porcelain  and  jade  and  ivory  and  enamel.  So  her  rooms 
were  bare  of  ornament,  and  she  preferred  to  keep  them  so. 
She  had  plain  and  comfortable  modern  furniture  that 
fitted  well  enough  in  the  available  space. 

She  had  settled  down  to  work  here  now,  though  so  far 
she  was  struggling  with  large  expanses  of  words  which  she 
had  been  unable  to  reduce  to  the  form  and  shape  that  she 


THE  STRANGE  ATTRACTION  307 

felt  they  must  have.  She  had  been  encouraged  liy  Dane's 
assurance  that  this  was  nothing  to  be  alarmed  at,  that  she 
might  go  on  for  some  time  before  she  achieved  a  sense  for 
technique. 

But  it  annoyed  her  this  night  that  she  could  not  man- 
age words  well  enough  to  put  down  what  was  simmering 
in  her  mind  about  the  South  Pole  explorers.  Her  mood 
was  too  emotional.  She  took  up  a  newspaper  and  tried 
to  read  the  story  calmly,  to  view  it  in  a  detached  manner. 
But  it  was  too  much  for  her.  She  began  to  cry  again, 
and  gave  way  unreservedly.  But  she  knew  that  she  was 
not  crying  solely  because  a  few  men  had  died  heroically 
away  down  there  in  the  snow. 

As  she  sat  still  at  last,  feeling  very  lonely  and  sorry  for 
herself,  she  heard  the  launch  come  into  the  bay  below;  she 
sat  up  listening,  and  because  she  had  assumptions  in  her 
mind  she  thought  she  heard  Dane  stumble  on  the  track 
through  the  trees. 

With  a  quick  movement  she  put  out  her  lamp.  Then 
she  hurried  into  her  bedroom  and  began  to  undress  in  the 
dark.  She  did  not  want  him  to  see  that  she  was  still  up, 
as  if  she  had  been  waiting  to  see  what  time  he  came  home. 
And  above  all  things  she  did  not  want  him  to  come  to  her 
the  worse  for  drink.  He  had  never  done  so,  but  she  had 
the  persistent  fear  that  he  might. 

Dane  saw  her  light  as  he  came  from  the  top  of  the 
steps,  and  he  stood  to  wonder  why  it  had  so  suddenly  gone 
out.  He  knew  it  was  after  one  o'clock.  Had  she  been 
working,  or  was  she  anxious  about  him? 

He  knew  he  had  been  very  depressed  and  disagreeable 
for  days,  but  it  had  relieved  him  enormously  to  see  that 
apparently  she  was  not  worried  by  it.  She  was  wonder- 
ful, he  thought.  She  did  not  fuss,  and  yet  he  felt  her  as  a 
warm  and  understanding  person.  It  would  have  driven 


308  THE  STRANGE  ATTRACTION 

him  mad  to  think  she  was  wording  about  him.  What 
earthly  use  was  it  to  worry  about  another's  moods? 

And  now  after  racing  recklessly  about  on  the  river  he 
had  conquered  his  mood.  He  had  been  more  shaken  by 
the  story  of  those  deaths  in  the  snow  than  he  had  been 
about  anything  for  years.  What  it  had  done  to  him  he 
did  not  know,  but  it  had  given  him  a  kind  of  melancholy 
exaltation,  had  put  vivid  pictures  into  his  mind  and  si 
curious  peace  into  his  soul.  And  he  had  come  back  unable 
to  think  about  it  any  more  for  the  present. 

As  he  stood  there  he  began  to  think  of  Valerie  as  a 
warmth  to  blot  out  now  the  trouble  of  his  recent  days. 
He  felt  suddenly  lonely  for  her.  He  had  expected  to  find 
she  had  gone  to  bed,  in  which  case  he  would  not  have  dis- 
turbed her,  but  now  that  he  had  seen  her  light  he  wanted 
to  feel  her  arms  about  him.  He  walked  on  past  the  front 
of  the  house  and  saw  that  her  rooms  were  in  darkness. 
But  he  knew  she  could  not  yet  be  asleep. 

He  stepped  up  to  the  verandah,  raised  the  screen,  and 
saw  she  was  not  in  her  cot. 

"  Valerie,  where  are  you?  "  he  called  a  little  urgently. 

"  I'm  undressing,  here,"  she  answered  from  within.  Her 
voice  sounded  ragged. 

He  vaulted  over  the  railing,  pushing  back  the  light 
screen,  and  went  to  her  window. 

"  Come  here,  dear.     Why  are  you  in  the  dark?  " 

Then  she  knew  her  assumptions  had  been  wrong,  and 
she  was  afraid  he  would  suspect  she  had  been  worrying 
about  him.  She  could  not  make  her  mood  light  all  in  a 
moment. 

"  Come  here,  Val,"  he  repeated.  It  was  a  tone  that 
always  gave  her  a  little  thrill. 

She  went  to  him  as  she  was  in  her  white  lingerie,  and  he 
put  his  arms  round  her  as  he  sat  on  the  window  ledge. 


THE  STRANGE  ATTRACTION  309 

<?  Why  have  you  been  crying,  old  girl  ?  "  he  asked  softly, 
gripping  one  of  her  bare  shoulders. 

"  I  can't  help  it — those  men " 

He  did  not  believe  that  was  the  whole  truth,  but  he  was 
comforted  by  her  good  intention.  And  it  was  much  easier 
to  believe  her  than  to  question  her.  And  there  are  moods 
when  half  truths  do  not  trouble  one  very  much.  He  be- 
gan to  kiss  her  hair. 

"  I  know,  dear.  But  don't  let's  think  about  it  any 
more.  It's  made  me  feel  awfully  lonely." 

"And  me  too,"  she  said  settling  against  him. 


CHAPTER  XVII 


"^T  11    THERE  you  like  your  lunch,  Meesis  Barring- 

%/%/  ton?  Meester  Barrington  not  very  well.  He 
^  »  stay  alone." 

IValerie  turned  in  her  chair,  her  expression  as  impassive 
as  Lee's.  "It's  rather  cold  outside,  isn't  it?" 

"  Yes.  It  windy  too.  There  is  a  fire  in  the  study, 
Meesis  Barrington." 

"  Then  I'll  have  it  there,  thank  you." 

She  put  down  her  pencil,  and  after  he  had  gone  she  sat 
staring  at  nothing  in  particular.  Then  she  shook  to- 
gether the  sheets  of  paper  scrawled  in  her  flowing  hand 
that  littered  the  table  in  front  of  her.  She  got  up  and 
went  to  the  bathroom  to  wash  her  hands.  When  she  en- 
tered the  study  she  saw  at  once  there  was  no  sign  that 
Dane  had  been  working  there  that  morning,  as  he  usually 
did  when  he  wrote  at  that  time  of  the  day.  A  fine  fire 
crackled  its  preliminary  way  to  a  solid  blaze. 

The  restrained  beauty  of  the  room  affected  Valerie 
every  time  she  entered  it,  but  her  pleasure  in  it  was  a 
little  clouded  now  by  a  pang  of  loneliness.  She  was  al- 
ways ready  to  meet  Dane  by  lunch  time.  She  liked  to 
have  his  suggestions  and  criticisms  on  what  she  had  been 
trying  to  do  in  the  morning.  His  interest  and  encourage- 
ment were  a  fine  stimulus  to  her  uncertainty.  And  she 
had  lately  been  very  pleased  with  herself  because  an  Aus- 
tralian magazine  had  accepted  her  humorous  article  on 
the  evolution  of  personal  taste.  Dane  had  liked  it  too, 

310 


THE  STRANGE  ATTRACTION  311 

and  had  given  her  an  idea  for  another  in  the  same  tone. 
It  was  this  she  had  been  working  on  this  day.  So  she 
missed  him  all  the  more. 

But  she  sat  down  determined  to  eat,  and  to  shut  off 
disturbing  thoughts.  However,  something  about  the  situ- 
ation hurt  her.  Once  before  that  autumn  he  had  Been 
away  from  her  for  a  couple  of  days.  She  had  not  known 
then,  any  more  than  she  did  now,  whether  he  was  at  home 
or  at  Mac's.  She  had  taken  the  information  as  Lee  had 
given  it  to  her,  and  without  asking  any  question,  had 
waited  for  Dane  to  reappear.  But  she  had  found  that 
her  love  was  being  denied  something  it  desired,  that  if  he 
were  ill  she  wanted  to  take  care  of  him,  and  yet  she  did  not 
want  to  see  him  ill.  She  would  have  shrunk  from  him 
unshaved,  been  shocked  by  any  demoralization  of  his  looks, 
that  was  one  of  the  penalties  of  her  passion  for  his  beauty, 
but  at  the  same  time  she  could  not  bear  to  think  that  she 
was  not  equal  to  that  test. 

And  she  knew,  also,  that  he  detested  being  fussed  over. 
When  she  had  spoken  that  autumn  of  his  loss  of  appetite 
he  had  irritabl}7  begged  her  to  ignore  it  as  nothing  un- 
usual. Like  all  sensitive  people  he  hated  to  think  he  was 
under  any  kind  of  inspection,  and  hating  it  as  much  as  he 
did,  she  had  been  very  careful  not  to  make  the  same  kind 
of  observation  again.  She  was  more  than  ever  determined 
to  help  him  by  being  happy  in  herself. 

And  so  she  ate  a  good  lunch,  and  then  changed  her 
clothes  and  went  out  to  prepare  a  bed  for  winter  bulbs. 
She  had  renewed  a  childhood  passion  that  year,  and  all 
the  past  summer  and  autumn  there  had  been  gorgeous 
patches  of  colour  in  the  sunshiny  spaces  of  the  garden. 
After  two  hours  she  put  away  her  tools,  and  sat  on  the 
front  verandah  to  smoke  a  cigarette  and  to  relax.  She 
did  hope  Lee  would  come  to  tell  her  that  Dane  wanted  her 


312  THE  STRANGE  ATTRACTION" 

to  have  tea  with  him.     But  no,  he  brought  a  fully  equipped 
tray  for  one  out  to  her. 

As  it  depressed  her  to  take  it  alone  she  did  the  most 
sensible  thing  she  could  afterwards.  She  got  up  her  horse 
and  went  off  riding  in  the  direction  of  Te  Koperu,  turning 
up  a  track  on  the  ranges  to  get  a  fine  view.  There  was  a 
fresh,  cool  wind  that  stimulated  her,  and  she  was  suffi- 
ciently philosophical  when  she  reached  home  to  face  the 
rest  of  the  day  with  her  own  company.  She  played  to 
herself  all  the  evening.  She  was  now  working  through  the 
piano  scores  of  the  Beethoven  symphonies,  so  that  she 
would  the  more  enjoy  them  when  she  came  to  hear  them 
played  by  the  great  orchestras  of  the  world.  They  were 
an  endless  source  of  delight  to  her,  and  this  night  she  lost 
herself  in  the  art  she  loved,  and  forgot  all  about  Dane 
until  Lee  brought  in  the  supper  tray. 


II 

Dane  had  waked  late  that  morning  from  an  intermittent 
dozing  to  find  himself  in  a  wretched  state  of  nerves.  He 
had  been  sleeping  badly  for  a  week  or  two,  and  had  fought 
every  night  the  temptation  to  take  morphia.  He  won- 
dered why  some  men  were  born  to  sleep  so  well  and  others 
so  ill.  He  had  seen  bushmen  sound  asleep  on  the  tops  of 
logs  that  were  being  drawn  along  tramways  by  patient,  re- 
liable horses  that  needed  no  guidance,  he  had  seen  men 
asleep  on  wagon  loads  of  hay,  men  asleep  about  the  decks 
of  timber  ships,  men  asleep  in  the  fields,  men  asleep  on 
timber  stacks  in  the  dinner  hour  at  the  mills,  men  asleep 
on  chairs  and  on  benches  in  the  pubs.  And  it  seemed  to 
him  as  if  he  were  the  only  person  he  knew  to  whom  the 
dark  goddess  denied  that  elementary  right  of  man. 

He    wondered    sometimes    if    his    erratic,    ill-regulate3 


THE  STRANGE  ATTRACTION  313 

childhood  was  the  cause.  Whatever  it  was,  his  terrible 
awakeness  was  the  curse  of  his  life.  He  had  done  what 
he  could  in  recent  years.  He  had  lived  more  and  more  in 
the  open  air,  and  that  had  helped  a  good  deal.  And 
marriage  with  Valerie  had  helped  him.  He  had  been  bet- 
ter in  the  first  year  than  he  had  been  for  a  decade.  But 
this  autumn  the  shadow  had  fallen  on  him  again,  and  he 
had  as  well  the  fits  of  indigestion  and  nausea  and  depres- 
sion that  he  was  beginning  to  dread. 

Even  the  strong  coffee  that  he  took  did  little  to  buck 
him  up  this  day.  He  paced  the  garden  on  his  side  of  the 
house  for  an  hour  and  found  himself  exhausted.  He  went 
into  his  den  and  drank  a  stiff  whisky  and  lay  down  on  his 
lounge,  hoping  the  warmth  of  the  room  would  help  him  to 
doze  the  morning  and  the  mood  away.  But  it  was  no  use. 
When  he  got  up  the  bones  in  his  body  seemed  to  dance 
under  his  skin  like  the  ridiculous  antics  of  marionettes 
moved  by  the  jerks  of  a  capricious  string.  His  nerves 
were  driving  him  mad. 

He  forced  himself  to  eat  a  little  of  the  chicken  jelly  Lee 
brought  him  for  lunch.  He  asked  about  Valerie,  and  was 
glad  to  hear  she  had  gone  out  to  garden.  He  went  out 
to  his  verandah  and  tried  to  get  some  distraction  from  the 
whistling  of  the  wind  in  the  trees  and  the  scurrying  of  the 
leaves  about  the  paths.  But  he  was  beyond  the  stage 
when  nature  was  any  use  to  him.  He  went  into  his  back 
room,  and  from  the  window  caught  a  glimpse  of  Valerie 
wheeling  a  barrow  of  manure  to  her  flower-beds.  He 
heard  her  whistling.  It  did  not  hurt  him  that  she  could 
be  happy  without  him.  It  was  the  one  thing  that  helped 
him  to  bear  himself,  when  he  did  bear  himself.  As  he 
looked  at  her  then  he  was  hardly  conscious  of  her  as  a 
woman  he  loved ;  he  was  so  weary  and  so  hounded  by  some 
insatiable  demon  within.  When  he  heard  she  had  gone  oil 


314  THE  STRANGE  ATTRACTION 

riding,  he  went  down  to  his  launch  and  turned  up  the 
river,  as  he  had  done  before  when  he  was  away  from  her. 
At  least  it  would  not  be  at  Mac's,  and  under  the  eye  of  Bob 
Lorrimer,  that  he  went  under. 


in 

In  spite  of  her  determination  to  be  detached,  Valerie  felt 
a  chill  when  Lee  came  to  ask  her  at  lunch  the  next  day 
where  she  would  have  it. 

She  knew  she  would  learn  nothing  if  she  asked  that  boy 
questions.  She  was  both  irritated  by  having  him  as  a 
buffer  between  her  and  Dane  and  attracted  by  his  ad- 
mirable matter-of-fact  air.  As  she  ate  again  by  herself 
the  situation  began  to  get  on  her  nerves. 

As  before  she  went  out  to  soothe  herself  by  working 
with  the  earth,  and  as  she  dug  she  heard  the  launch  come 
into  the  bay.  She  slipped  back  quietly  to  her  rooms  and 
was  in  time  to  see  Dane  emerge  from  the  trees  and  dis- 
appear on  his  own  side  of  the  house.  He  slouched  along 
with  a  stoop  like  an  old  man.  She  had  not  been  able  to 
see  his  face.  She  sat  down  so  overwhelmed  with  pity  for 
him  that  hot  tears  oozed  painfully  out  of  her  eyes  and 
dropped  upon  her  grubby  hands.  But  she  tried  to  com- 
fort herself  with  the  thought  that  perhaps  men  did  not 
suffer  nearly  as  much  about  this  kind  of  thing  as  women 
did  for  them.  Perhaps  he  felt  much  better  now  that  he 
had  fed  that  demon  in  him.  He  would  be  weak  and  sick 
for  a  day  or  two,  but  his  mind  might  be  at  rest.  She 
knew  well  enough  he  drank  for  no  mere  self-indulgent  rea- 
son. Whatever  it  was,  it  was  not  tKat.  There  was  a 
continual  fight  going  on  there,  and  it  was  knowledge  of 
that  that  saved  him  from  her  condemnation. 

She  decided  to  ride  into  Dargaville,  so  that  if  he  had 


THE  STRANGE  ATTRACTION  315 

been  at  Mac's  the  night  before,  as  she  supposed,  the  town 
should  know  she  was  not  crushed  by  the  fact.  She  stopped 
as  she  usually  did  at  the  News  office,  and  learned  that 
Dane  had  not  called  for  the  paper.  She  stopped  at  the 
post-office  and  found  he  had  not  got  the  mail. 

When  she  got  home  she  took  the  papers  and  the  mail 
into  her  room  with  her.  There  were  several  letters  for 
Dane.  She  separated  them,  thinking  that  having  this  ex- 
cuse she  would  go  to  his  verandah,  and  that  if  he  were  not 
there  she  would  call  him.  She  felt  it  ridiculous  that  she 
could  not  make  a  move  towards  him.  But  even  as  she 
thought  it,  Lee  knocked  on  her  door. 

"  You  have  the  mail,  Meesis  Barrington?  "  he  asked. 

She  gave  him  the  papers  and  the  letters  for  Dane. 

But  something  about  this  incident  annoyed  her  ex- 
tremely. And  it  was  humiliating  to  be  cut  off  from  the 
man  she  loved  by  this  boy.  And  yet,  if  the  man  she  loved 
preferred  it  this  way,  she  had  to  abide  by  his  wish. 

She  ate  her  dinner  alone  again  that  night,  and  became 
so  restless  and  upset  by  her  isolation  that  she  was  in  no 
mood  to  play  the  piano  afterwards.  She  went  out  into 
the  dark  and  began  to  pace  the  drive  between  the  house 
and  the  gate.  The  quality  of  the  night  did  not  help  her. 
There  was  still  a  wind,  but  it  was  not  the  fresh  wind  of 
the  west  with  a  tonic  in  its  rushing  air.  It  was  a  brooding 
northeaster  of  the  three-day  kind,  swaying  the  pines  to  a 
melancholy  whine  and  the  poplars  to  a  metallic  hiss.  It 
was  a  wind  that  preceded  a  storm  of  rain.  It  was  a  wind 
that  hinted  at  pain  and  trouble  and  unutterable  sadnesses. 
It  was  a  wind  that  glued  one  to  the  earth,  that  put  weights 
in  one's  boots  and  turned  one's  muscles  to  lead. 

At  last  she  felt  she  was  tired  enough  to  sleep.  She 
found  her  supper  in  the  study.  She  was  able  to  drink  a 
glass  of  wine  and  eat  some  crackers,  but  she  felt  so  lonely 


316  THE  STRANGE  ATTRACTION 

when  she  got  to  bed  that  it  was  a  long  time  before  she  fell 
into  an  uneasy  dream. 

"  Come  in,"  she  said  at  one  o'clock  the  next  day,  as  she 
heard  the  knock. 

She  had  expected  Lee,  but  it  was  Dane  who  walked  in, 
closing  the  door  behind  him.  He  looked  pale  and  tired, 
and  there  were  circles  round  his  eyes,  but  he  was  not 
frantic  any  more.  He  seemed  relaxed  and  a  little  drowsy. 
There  was  a  delicate  scent  about  his  fresh  white  shirt,  and 
he  was  wearing  the  navy  suit  and  the  blue  tie  she  liked 
best.  His  obvious  attention  to  her  likes  touched  her. 

Afraid  though  he  was  of  her  judgment,  he  stumbled  in 
to  her  like  a  child,  with  an  appeal  radiating  from  his  whole 
expressive  body.  But  he  had  no  need  to  fear  her.  Her 
eyes  flashed  when  she  saw  who  it  was.  She  sprang  to  her 
feet  with  her  arms  out,  as  if  he  had  returned  unexpectedly 
from  a  journey,  and  before  he  could  speak  he  felt  her 
kisses  upon  his  lips  and  her  hands  caressing  his  head. 

"  I've  been  a  beast  to  leave  you  alone,  dear,"  he  said 
Hoarsely,  when  he  could  find  his  voice. 

"  Oh,  don't,  please.     I  understand." 

"  I'm  better  alone." 

"  Yes,  yes,  I  know.     Don't  think  about  it.     Kiss  me." 

He  thought  it  wonderful  that  she  could  blot  it  out  like 
that.  But  she  was  only  too  glad  to  blot  it  out,  only  too 
glad  to  have  him  restored  to  some  measure  of  peace  with 
himself. 

It  was  the  storm  that  broke  upon  the  place  that  night, 
lasting  for  three  days,  that  brought  them  to  talk  of  going 
away.  He  did  not  particularly  want  to  go.  Changes  in 
food  upset  him  and  he  could  not  work  so  well,  but  he  saw 
Valerie  thought  a  change  would  do  him  good,  and  he 
thought  she  wanted  it  for  herself.  Each  was  thinking  of 
the  other  and  thinking  wrong,  as  is  the  strange  way  of  so 


THE  STRANGE  ATTRACTION  317 

many  people  who  care.  So  they  went  to  Rotorua  for  a) 
month.  And  on  the  whole  it  did  Dane  a  lot  of  good. 
The  fine  winter  climate  of  the  Dominion's  most  famous  re- 
sort helped  him  to  eat,  and  the  mineral  baths  and  electric 
treatment  he  took  restored  his  nerves.  They  spent  most 
of  the  time  walking  and  driving  about  the  hills  and  launch- 
ing about  the  lakes,  and  Valerie  was  rejoiced  to  see  how, 
much  better  he  seemed  when  they  returned  home. 


CHAPTER   XVIII 


ONE  warm  night  in  the  following  February  Valerie 
lounged  on  Dane's  verandah,  as  near  as  she  could 
to  the  edge  without  letting  the  chair  topple  over. 
Such  little  coolness  as  there  was  on  the  river  came  up 
through  the  clearing  to  be  dissipated  by  the  lingering 
warmth  and  heavy  scents  of  the  garden. 

A  half-finished  cigarette  disintegrated  into  ash  in  a 
copper  tray  beside  her.  She  had  put  it  down  when  Dane 
had  begun  to  sing  L'heure  Exquise.  She  always  for- 
got that  there  could  be  any  other  kind  of  hour  when  he 
sang  to  her.  He  had  not  a  strong  voice,  but  it  had  a 
quality  that  filled  her  with  a  tingling  delight.  She  forgot 
now  her  hours  of  anxiety  about  him  in  the  last  months, 
her  increasing  sense  of  some  invisible  disrupting  influence 
that  was  coming  up  between  them.  But  they  still  loved 
each  other  after  two  years,  loved  each  other  beyond  any 
doubt,  she  told  herself. 

Valerie  had  changed  in  those  two  years.  Her  manner 
had  softened.  Her  voice  was  fuller  and  lower.  She  was 
less  positive  in  expression,  more  sympathetic  in  judgment. 
Physically  she  was  more  alive  than  she  had  ever  been. 
Her  maiden  leanness  had  disappeared,  and  her  shapely 
limbs  were  rounded  to  alluring  curves.  And  about  her 
there  was  always  the  glow  of  splendid  health.  It  was  this 
that  made  it  hard  for  her  to  realize  at  times  what  it  could 
mean  to  lack  vitality. 

But  as  Dane  sang  she  was  not  thinking  of  his  health, 

318 


THE  STRANGE  ATTRACTION  819 

she  was  not  looking  into  any  doubtful  future.  She  was 
lost  in  a  subjective  sweetness,  conscious  only  of  the  flute- 
like  notes  that  floated  out  to  her.  She  felt  a  jar  when 
jthey  stopped. 

He  came  out  through  the  study  door  looking  for  her. 
He  leaned  over  the  back  of  her  chair,  putting  his  face 
against  her  hair,  and  one  hand  under  her  chin. 

"  I'm  not  in  much  of  a  mood  to  sing,  dear,  I  feel  lazy." 

He  moved  round  her  chair  and  dropped  into  his  ham- 
mock with  the  motions  of  a  man  who  is  tired. 

One  of  the  boys  came  into  the  den  and  lit  two  of  the 
lamps,  and  by  the  streamer  of  light  that  fell  across  Dane's 
face  Valerie  saw  with  a  little  pang  that  there  were  heavy 
circles  under  his  eyes.  She  could  never  bear  to  think  of 
anything  but  beauty  on  his  face.  She  wondered  at  times 
how  far  she  was  hypnotized  by  it,  how  far  she  loved  the 
man  behind  that  face.  Of  course  there  were  definite  quali- 
ties there  that  she  could  name  as  lovable,  his  appealing 
affectionateness,  his  whimsical  sense  of  humour,  his  soft- 
ness, his  uncanny  understanding,  his  personal  charm,  but 
behind  all  these  was  that  baffling  man  she  did  not  know, 
the  man  she  could  not  help.  She  had  speculated  a  good 
deal  about  his  duality,  the  spartan  mind  in  the  hedonist 
body,  as  she  put  it  to  herself,  and  she  wondered  if  the  fight 
was  between  those  two,  if  it  were  as  simple  as  that.  She 
knew  now  there  was  a  deadly  battle  going  on  behind  those 
eyes,  but  she  could  not  tell  what  the  opponents  were,  what 
armour  they  wore,  what  gods  they  fought  for.  But  she 
could  see  the  smoke  of  it,  like  a  person  watching  from  a 
far-off  hill. 

As  she  looked  at  him  she  was  afraid  that  the  trip  they 
had  taken  that  summer,  a  wandering  trip  about  the  North, 
had  not  toned  him  up  as  she  had  hoped  it  might. 

The  warm  weather  lasted  for  two  more  days  before  it 


'320  THE  STRANGE  ATTRACTION 

biroke  with  a  thunderstorm  that  left  the  air  fresh.  The 
change  seemed  to  make  a  difference  to  Dane.  He  recov- 
ered some  of  the  fire  he  had  lately  lost.  As  Valerie  sat 
with  him  after  dinner,  and  saw  the  good  mood  he  was  in, 
she  ventured  to  make  an  observation  that  she  had  wanted 
to  make  for  some  time. 

"  Dane,  I  do  wish  you  would  do  something  about  your 
indigestion.  You  are  better  to-day,  but  you  have  been 
getting  worse  for  months.  You  know  diet  can  do  wonders 
for  that.  Now  don't  frown,  dear.  You  men  are  all  so  de- 
plorably careless  about  your  health,  and  you  know  I  hap- 
pen to  care  a  lot  about  yours." 

"  I've  always  had  a  weak  stomach,  Valerie.  I  can't  do 
anything  about  the  damned  thing.  Please  don't  worry 
about  it.  It's  really  going  away  that  upsets  me — this 
last  trip — we  had  such  a  lot  of  greasy  stuff." 

"  Well,  then,  we  mustn't  go  to  the  wilds  again." 

"  Oh,  please,  dear,  don't  bother  about  it.  I'm  all 
right." 

She  saw  that  her  reference  to  it  had  chilled  and  irritated 
him.  To  make  amends,  she  moved  her  chair  beside  the 
hammock,  and  took  one  of  his  hands  and  kissed  it  and 
rubbed  it  against  her  cheek.  They  smoked  and  sat  still 
for  a  while,  and  then,  seeing  that  he  was  aloof  in  mood 
from  her,  she  began  deliberately  to  try  to  bring  him  back 
to  her  again,  to  put  him  in  the  mood  when  he  could  forget 
everything  but  her. 

He  felt  her  vitality  about  him  like  a  glow  in  the  night. 
There  had  never  yet  been  a  time  when  she  could  not  stimu- 
late him,  but  to-night  he  felt  as  if  the  springs  of  his  forces 
had  run  dry.  There  was  a  fierce  inhibition  somewhere. 

Valerie  got  up  abruptly,  walked  to  the  steps,  and  looked 
up  at  the  velvety  sky  where  the  Milky  Way  was  like  a  trail 
of  quicksilver  pulverized  to  luminous  dust.  She  stood  still 


THE  STRANGE  ATTRACTION  321 

there  for  a  few  minutes,  and  then  she  went  in  and  began  to 
play. 

He  was  lying  with  his  arm  across  his  face  when  she  came 
after  an  hour  to  the  study  door. 

"  I'm  going  to  have  some  supper.     Do  you  want  any?  " 

"  No,  thanks.      I'll  stay  here  for  a  while  longer." 

Chilled  by  his  manner  she  went  back  and  ate  alone,  and 
then  restless  and  unhappy  she  went  out  to  walk  on  the 
other  side  of  the  house. 

Something  in  the  mysterious  depths  of  the  range 
stretching  up  to  the  stars,  in  its  potent  silence,  the  weight 
of  life  it  carried  so  secretively,  stirred  her  out  of  her  little 
petty  mood,  calmed  her  senses.  She  told  herself  it  was 
absurd  to  put  the  significance  she  had  been  doing  on 
Dane's  manner.  He  could  not  always  be  responsive,  but 
it  was  the  fact  that  this  was  the  first  time  he  had  not  been 
so  that  arrested  her. 

He  lay  still  for  a  few  minutes  after  she  had  gone  to  eat 
her  supper.  Then  he  turned  over  and  buried  his  face  in 
the  cushions. 

"  Oh  God,  if  I  were  only  ten  years  younger ! "  He 
stretched  his  lips  on  his  set  teeth.  He  thought  rather 
bitterly  of  the  fate  that  had  brought  Valerie  to  him  as  the 
last  woman  he  should  love  instead  of  the  first.  He  was 
romantic  enough  to  think  his  life  might  have  been  very 
different.  They  had  had  two  years  together,  even  more 
than  he  had  hoped  in  the  beginning,  and  there  was  still 
more  of  it.  She  still  loved  him,  he  knew  that.  She  was 
still  happy  there.  They  were  not  yet  looking  at  each 
other  with  that  premeditated  and  deliberate  politeness 
that  decent  people  used  to  disguise  the  death  of  spon- 
taneity. Whenever  he  was  well  life  was  wonderful  between 
them. 

He  did  wish  she  had  not  spoken  of  his  health.      It  was 


322  THE  STRANGE  ATTRACTION 

the  one  thing  he  could  not  bear  to  be  reminded  of,  the  one 
thing  he  was  trying  to  forget.  He  simply  must  not  think 
of  it  yet.  That  awful  suspicion — and  her  words  had  had 
an  appalling  effect  upon  it,  had  given  it  a  kind  of  stability 
as  fact.  All  at  once  he  felt  terribly  alone.  He  could  not 
lie  there  and  think  of  that.  He  wanted  her  arms  about 
him,  wanted  her  life  beating  against  his  own  to  assure  him 
that  it  was  a  sure  and  positive  thing,  and  that  it  could 
not  be  spirited  away  from  him.  He  got  out  of  the  ham- 
mock and  went  in  to  look  for  her.  He  had  not  heard  her 
go  out.  He  knocked  on  her  door,  and  getting  no  response 
he  went  into  her  room  wondering  now  if  she  had  been  hurt 
by  his  coldness.  When  he  could  not  find  her  he  was  sure 
she  had.  He  could  have  kicked  himself. 

He  went  round  the  house  calling  for  her,  and  down  to 
the  boathouse,  and  back  along  the  drive  to  the  gate.  He 
worked  himself  into  the  state  of  a  lost  child  when  she  did 
not  answer.  When  at  last  he  saw  her  coming  along  the 
road,  he  hurried  to  meet  her  and  caught  her  to  him. 

"  Oh,  don't  go  away  from  me,"  he  begged,  clinging  to 
her. 

"  Why,  my  dear,  my  dear,  I — I  thought " 

She  wondered  whatever  had  changed  him  so,  and  she 
wondered  it  again  many  times  during  the  night. 


II 

"  Valerie,  I  want  to  go  to  Roland's  Mills  for  a  day  or 
two  to  hunt  up  some  fresh  stories.  I've  heard  of  an  Eng- 
lishman over  that  way  I'd  like  to  see." 

"  Oh,  good.  Give  my  love  to  David  Bruce,  and  tell  him 
we  haven't  been  divorced  yet,"  she  answered  lightly. 

He  smiled  back  at  her. 

They   had  just   finished   lunch    on   a   cool   April   day. 


THE  STRANGE  ATTRACTION  323 

Dane's  proposal  did  not  disturb  her  in  the  least.  He  had 
many  times  gone  off  for  a  day  or  two  after  copy,  and  had 
never  suggested  that  she  go  with  him,  nor  had  she  asked  to 
do  so,  knowing  that  she  could  not  sleep  in  men's  camps  or 
lonely  huts.  She  was  glad  now  to  hear  that  he  was  to  be 
out  in  his  launch,  for  he  had  been  depressed  the  last  two 
days,  and  she  felt  the  trip  would  do  him  good.  She  saw 
him  off  later  with  a  supply  of  food  without  a  question  in 
her  eyes. 

She  spent  the  rest  of  the  day  with  no  sense  of  loneliness. 
She  was  becoming  used,  in  a  measure,  to  his  absences. 
This  was  partly  because  they  were  not,  as  yet,  so  frequent 
as  to  be  continually  depressing.  The  interludes  meant  so 
much. 

And  then  she  was  becoming  absorbed  in  her  first  novel. 
It  was  crudely  written  as  far  as  she  had  gone,  she  knew, 
and  would  take  a  lot  of  polishing,  but  the  thing  that  inter- 
ested her  was  the  power  to  create  people  in  her  own  imagi- 
nation. It  was  a  wonderful  diversion.  She  had  starved 
considerably  for  companionship  till  she  had  met  Dane,  and 
now  she  discovered  she  could  make  people  to  please  her- 
self, she  could  make  them  talk  as  she  wanted  people  to 
talk,  make  them  live  as  she  wanted  people  to  live,  and  she 
found  they  became  extraordinarily  real.  And  it  was  be- 
coming more  and  more  interesting  to  explore  her  own  mind, 
to  see  what  would  come  out  of  it  in  a  morning,  to  see  what 
her  people  would  say  and  do,  for  they  had  surprising  ways 
of  their  own;  they  would  defy  her  intentions  sometimes, 
and  scamper  off  on  her  pages  and  do  things  of  their  own 
accord.  The  whole  thing  enormously  diverted  her,  and 
she  felt  now  that  if  she  kept  on  she  would  some  day  suc- 
ceed with  this  thing. 

And  so  it  was  that  she  worked  and  played  away  the  day 
after  Dane  left  without  thinking  much  about  him.  In  the 


324  THE  STRANGE  ATTRACTION 

evening  she  lay  in  his  hammock  listening  to  the  crickets 
and  rather  enjoying  the  mood  of  sweet  melancholy  that 
the  autumn  night  gave  her.  The  wind  had  changed  from 
the  west  to  the  east,  but  she  hoped  the  rain  would  not 
come  before  Dane  got  back. 

She  wished  the  boys  would  light  up  the  den,  for  she 
liked  to  look  into  it  from  the  outside,  but  when  their  mas- 
ter was  away  they  always  kept  his  rooms  in  darkness,  and 
she  had  never  attempted  to  go  into  them  or  change  a 
single  one  of  his  ways.  She  had  no  vulgar  curiosity  about 
him.  It  would  never  have  occurred  to  her  to  look  over  his 
desk  or  papers  in  his  absence.  She  had  never  thought 
about  possible  relics  of  other  women.  What  did  those 
things  matter?  She  sneered  at  the  people  who  thought 
they  did.  She  had  never  even  tried  the  doors  of  his  back 
rooms  to  see  if  they  were  locked,  and  she  had  never  yet  set 
her  foot  in  those  two  rooms.  She  knew  that  the  things 
she  did  not  know  about  Dane  would  never  be  learned  by 
poking  about  among  his  belongings. 

She  drew  the  possum  rug  up  over  her  and  drifted  into 
speculation  about  the  future.  She  was  absorbed  and  con- 
tented at  present,  realizing  the  chance  she  had  to  work, 
but  she  wondered  what  she  would  do  when  her  novel  was 
finished.  Of  course  she  wanted  it  to  come  out  in  London. 
She  was  rather  sniffy  about  colonial  undertakings.  And 
how  would  she  get  it  to  London?  Would  Dane  be  willing 
to  go  with  her,  and  if  not,  what? 

But  she  shelved  that  disturbing  question.  She  went  in- 
side, closed  the  study  door,  and  ate  her  supper  by  the 
dying  fire,  mooning  there  for  some  time  because  she  found 
the  coals  good  company.  It  was  nearly  midnight  when 
she  stepped  out  of  her  bedroom  window  to  her  cot.  She 
stood  by  the  railing  a  moment  looking  up  at  the  faintly 
clouded  stars  before  she  lowered  her  screen.  Something 


THE  STRANGE  ATTRACTION  325 

startled  her  to  stretch  out  her  head  and  to  listen.  Then 
she  heard  the  launch  more  distinct!}7,  and  she  knew  well  the 
pulse  of  its  engine.  It  came  at  slow  speed  into  the  bay, 
and  a  little  later  she  heard  the  rattle  of  a  chain  and  the 
closing  of  the  boathouse  doors.  And  then  the  stumbling 
steps  on  the  other  side  of  the  house.  The  dogs  roused  a 
minute  to  growl  and  then  lay  still. 

Valerie  found  herself  very  wide  awake.  Why  had  Dane 
come  back?  He  had  hardly  had  time  to  get  to  Roland's 
Mills,  even  if  he  had  gone  at  top  speed  all  the  way.  She 
sat  down  on  the  edge  of  her  cot  with  a  hard  pain  inside 
her.  If  he  had  meant  to  get  drunk  why  had  he  lied  to 
her?  He  had  never  lied  before.  For  the  first  time  a  real 
despair  took  possession  of  her.  This  thing  was  growing 
on  him,  was  getting  ahead  of  him.  The  time  would  soon 
come  when  the  interludes  would  not  balance  the  black 
moods,  would  not  compensate. 

She  got  into  bed  and  lay  with  her  eyes  open  staring  into 
the  blackness  under  the  verandah  roof. 

She  asked  no  questions  of  Lee  at  breakfast,  and  the  boy 
said  nothing  about  his  master.  She  wondered  if  she  was 
supposed  to  know  that  Dane  was  back  so  that  she  would 
keep  away  from  his  side  of  the  house.  At  times  like  these 
she  felt  like  an  outsider  in  the  place,  as  if  she  had  no  part 
there  at  all.  She  felt  more  than  usually  upset  that  morn- 
ing, and  could  only  make  a  pretence  of  working.  Her 
characters  seemed  unreal,  their  actions  trivial  and  their 
emotions  silly.  She  could  not  get  hold  of  them  at  all. 

When  he  brought  her  lunch  Lee  said :  "  Meester  Bar- 
rington  back.  He  not  well.  He  wish  himself  alone." 

Valerie  knew  it  was  useless  to  be  angry  with  the  boy  who 
could  do  so  much  more  for  the  sick  man  than  she  could. 
But  it  was  just  this  that  maddened  her.  And  she  reflected 
what  a  grim  Nemesis  it  was  that  should  have  brought  to 


326  THE  STRANGE r  ATTRACTION 

her  the  kind  of  thing  she  had  supposed  she  wanteo!.  One  of 
her  reasons  for  hating  marriage  had  been  the  boring  &nd 
ugly  physical  intimacy  of  so  much  of  it.  But  Dane  had 
imposed  none  of  the  things  she  feared  upon  her.  She  ha'd 
never  seen  him  unshaved.  She  had  never  seen  him  dress  or 
undress.  He  had  been  even  more  fastidious  and  delicate 
than  she  was.  He  had  never  come  near  her  when  he  was 
ill.  She  had  never  been  asked  to  lift  her  finger  to  do  a 
thing  for  him.  And  now  she  hated  what  she  had  thought 
she  desired.  It  seemed  so  cold  and  inhuman.  It  made  her 
feel  she  was  failing  him  in  vital  ways.  But  there  was 
nothing  she  could  do  about  it* 

That  afternoon  she  rode  through  Dargaville  and  out  to 
the  coast.  The  gully  was  deserted,  and  the  tent  no  longer 
there.  They  had  been  down  together  after  the  cottagers 
left,  but  the  things  had  been  brought  home  two  weeks  be- 
fore. She  looked  at  the  place  where  she  had  first  heard 
of  Dane,  and  thought  of  the  glorious  hours  they  had  had 
down  there.  Try  as  she  would  she  could  not  keep  from 
her  mind  the  ominous  sense  that  the  glory  of  their  adven- 
ture was  departing.  She  galloped  back  and  forth  on  the 
beach  till  she  felt  better. 

It  was  gaily  enough  on  the  way  home  that  she  stopped 
in  front  of  the  News  and  whistled  for  her  paper.  She 
fancied  Bob  looked  at  her  a  little  intently  as  he  came  out 
with  it.  And  then  as  she  rested  before  dinner  she  read 
what  had  happened  to  Dane. 

HI 

He  had  left  her  with  every  intention,  as  he  had  said,  of 
going  to  Roland's  Mills.  He  intended  to  get  to  Aoroa 
for  the  night,  to  make  an  early  start,  and  to  get  round 
into  the  Otamatea  and  to  pass  their  honeymooning  place 


THE  STRANGE  ATTRACTION  327 

in  the  early  morning.  It  did  not  alarm  him  that  he 
wanted  to  get  away  from  Valerie  for  a  few  days.  There 
were  times  when  he  liked  to  get  away  from  her  because  he 
so  enjoyed  going  back  to  find  her  there. 

He  was  about  a  mile  above  Dargaville,  and  looking  up 
at  a  pile  of  cumulous  clouds,  when  he  felt  the  launch  bump 
something.  He  had  not  noticed  anything  conspicuous  on 
the  water  ahead  of  him.  Looking  back  he  saw  a  horrible 
thing,  the  water-bloated  face  of  a  man.  He  gave  a  shud- 
dering groan  and  felt  instantly  nauseated.  Automatic- 
ally he  ran  on  for  a  few  yards,  then  he  slowed  down  and 
began  a  tormenting  wrestle  with  himself.  He  wanted  to 
run  on  and  leave  it.  It  made  him  sick  even  to  think  of  it. 
What  did  it  matter  what  happened  to  it,  a  hideous  dead 
thing?  But  somebody  would  want  it.  And  if  he  left  it 
now  it  might  sink,  and  never  be  heard  of  again,  and  women 
and  children  might  go  on  crying  for  it.  And  he  could  not 
face  anyone  with  the  tale  that  he  was  afraid  of  it,  that  he 
loathed  it.  He  looked  up  and  down  the  river.  There  was 
nothing  in  sight.  No  one  would  ever  know  he  had  seen  it. 
But  he  would  know  himself  that  he  had  seen  it  and  de- 
serted it. 

"  God  damn  it !  "  he  raged.  "  Why  does  this  happen  to 
me?" 

He  turned  the  launch  back,  went  alongside  it  and  looked 
at  it.  He  broke  out  with  an  oath,  an  explosion  rare  to 
him.  He  knew  the  dreadful  face.  It  was  that  of  an 
Australian,  who  had  drifted  six  months  before  to  one  of 
the  mills  on  the  river.  He  had  been  a  jolly  reckless  chap, 
and  Dane  had  had  many  a  drink  with  him.  Now  he  knew 
he  could  not  leave  him  to  drift  down  the  river.  There  was 
'an  irresistible  human  cry  in  the  pulpy  eyes  upturned  to 
the  sky  and  in  the  peeling  face.  Grinding  his  teeth  Dane 
took  a  handkerchief  out  of  his  pocket,  and  with  nausea 


328  THE  STRANGE  ATTRACTION 

threatening  to  overcome  him,  he  tied  it  round  the  head, 
for  he  could  not  bear  to  feel  it  staring  at  him.  He  saw 
he  could  never  get  the  body  into  the  launch.  Indeed,  he 
could  not  have  borne  to  have  it  there.  And  he  was  afraid 
it  would  fall  to  bits.  He  had  an  appalling  moment  won- 
dering what  on  earth  he  was  to  do  with  it.  Then  with  his 
pocket  knife  he  cut  holes  in  the  coat.  He  tied  a  rope 
through  them  and  fixed  it  to  the  stern  of  the  launch.  He 
tried  to  wash  his  hands,  shrinking  from  them.  The  per- 
spiration stood  out  on  his  forehead  when  he  was  finished. 
He  started  slowly  down  the  river,  feeling  he  would  go  mad 
with  that  trailing  after  him. 

Bob  Lorrimer,  Doctor  Steele  and  Mac  were  standing 
near  the  barroom  door  when  Dane  plunged  in  as  if  he 
were  followed  by  all  the  devils  in  hell. 

"  What  is  it,  Barrington?  "  asked  Bob  anxiously,  think- 
ing at  once  of  Valerie. 

Dane  did  not  see  what  he  meant.  "  A  corpse," 
he  shuddered,  "  at  my  boat.  I  ran  into  it  coming 
down."  And  he  went  on  up  the  stairs  to  wash  his 
hands. 

Even  before  Doctor  Steele  and  Bob  had  got  the  body 
into  the  hotel  on  a  stretcher  Dane  was  at  the  bar  drink- 
ing whisky,  and  when  he  was  called  upon  by  the  constable 
for  evidence  he  was  already  reckless. 

"  What  the  hell  do  you  want  in  the  way  of  evidence?  " 
he  raged.  "  Isn't  it  a  corpse?  I  found  it  in  the  river, 
curse  it !  What  more  is  there  to  say  ?  " 

"  Look  here,  Mac,  don't  let  him  get  drunk,"  said  Bob 
aside. 

Mac  grinne'd.  "  You  bloody  fool,  you  can't  stop  a  man 
in  that  mood.  He's  got  stacks  of  stuff  at  home  anyway. 

And  he's  better  drunk  than  seeing  that corpse 

all  night." 


THE  STRANGE  ATTRACTION  329 

Later  on  in  the  evening  Mac  and  Doctor  Steele  got 
Dane  upstairs. 

"  I  wonder  why  he  had  to  find  that  thing?  "  said  the 
doctor,  looking  down  upon  him  as  he  lay  on  the  bed. 
"  Borrow  came  down  half  an  hour  before.  It  wouldn't 
have  hurt  him  to  pick  it  up." 

"  Oh,  there  ain't  no  reason  in  this world," 

growled  Mac. 


IV 

Valerie  also  felt  there  was  no  reason  in  the  world  when 
she  read  that  Dane  had  run  into  that  calamitous  object. 
Her  first  feeling  was  one  of  blind  rage  that  such  things 
were  always  imposed  on  the  people  who  could  least  endure 
them.  She  stamped  about  the  garden  that  night  shouting 
her  little  defiance  at  the  stars.  She  was  roused  against 
the  fates  on  behalf  of  Dane.  But  when  this  mood  wore 
itself  out  she  was  a  little  weary,  and  though  she  would 
not  have  admitted  it,  a  little  resentful  that  he  should  be 
so  sensitive  to  hurt. 

As  it  grew  near  lunch  time  the  next  day  she  hoped  she 
was  going  to  hear  from  him.  Not  only  because  she  missed 
him,  but  because  it  would  mean  that  he  was  better.  She 
had  not  worked  well  that  morning.  His  personality 
seemed  to  clutch  at  her  through  the  walls.  She  might 
have  worked  if  she  had  known  he  was  away,  but  now  the 
thought  of  him  lying  alone  there  somewhere  distracted 
her. 

But  he  did  not  appear  at  lunch.  She  went  out  to 
garden  afterwards,  for  nothing  so  well  soothed  her. 

At  half-past  four  Lee  called  from  the  verandah. 
*'  Your  tea,  Meesis  Barrington." 

There  was  no  sign  of  Dane,  and  almost  before  she  had 


330  THE  STRANGE  ATTRACTION 

finished  dusk  came  down  upon  the  garden.  The  days 
were  shortening  fast,  and  when  it  was  cloudy  as  it  now 
was  it  was  dark  at  five.  The  atmosphere  was  heavy, 
threatening  rain. 

Valerie  tried  to  settle  down  to  read  till  dinner.  She 
did  not  like  to  play  the  piano  lest  Dane  be  out  in  his  cot 
asleep  and  be  wakened  by  it.  But  she  could  not  sit  still. 
She  was  desperately  restless.  She  went  out  to  walk  on 
the  drive.  For  the  twentieth  time  she  told  herself  this 
way  of  living  could  not  go  on.  When  Dane  was  well  again 
she  would  talk  it  out  with  him.  It  made  her  feel  like  an 
alien  in  the  house.  She  could  not  stand  it  any  longer. 
She  told  herself  she  would  rather  see  him  drunk,  unshaved, 
sick,  if  it  had  to  be  that  kind  of  thing,  than  go  on  with 
this  disrupting  isolation.  She  would  enter  into  the  fight 
with  him,  make  him  win. 

Where  was  he  now,  she  wondered.  She  sneaked  round 
in  the  shrubs  to  his  side  of  the  house  with  a  strange  feel- 
ing that  she  had  no  business  to  spy  upon  him.  The  canvas 
blinds  on  the  sleeping  end  of  his  verandah  were  down,  and 
she  could  see  nothing  there,  and  the  blinds  of  his  den  were 
down  also,  but  the  room  was  lit  within.  She  stood  hidden 
looking  from  one  French  door  to  the  other,  looking  for 
what  she  knew  not.  But  she  could  not  get  it  out  of  her 
head  that  something  tragic  beyond  her  imagining  was 
going  on  in  that  room.  It  was  as  if  she  could  see  the 
shadows  of  battling  figures  posed  against  the  blinds. 

She  grew  frantic  thinking  of  it.  Inaction  was  the  one 
unendurable  thing  to  a  person  of  her  disposition.  A  clod 
might  have  stood  it,  but  not  a  person  of  her  imagination. 

She  stole  back  to  the  front  verandah  and  sat  down. 
The  glow  from  the  study  fire  streamed  out  through  the 
window  and  cast  distorted  streaks  of  light  up  and  down 
the  trunks  of  trees.  She  turned  her  chair  to  look  into 


THE  STRANGE  ATTRACTION  331 

the  room.  This  was  her  favourite  room.  It  expressed 
the  best  of  Dane,  she  thought.  She  liked  the  den  well 
enough  for  exotic  hours,  but  she  always  felt  she  wanted 
to  go  out  into  the  air  afterwards,  or  to  come  to  sit  in  the 
study  with  its  satisfying  balance.  Everything  about  it 
seemed  just  right.  It  was  a  beautiful  room  to  play  in,  to 
read  in,  to  eat  in,  to  talk  in,  or  to  dream  in  by  the  fire. 
There  was  only  one  .thing  lacking  in  it  now — the  presence 
of  the  man  who  had  made  it. 

As  she  looked  in,  Lee  carried  in  the  dinner  tray  set  only 
for  one.  With  a  chill  at  her  heart  she  went  inside. 

But  there  was  a  folded  note  on  the  tray.  She  did  not 
see  it  till  she  had  eaten  her  soup. 

"  Val,  dear,  play  to  me  to-night,  and  please  don't  worry 
about  me.  I'll  be  all  right  in  a  day  or  two." 

Tears  oozed  out  of  her  eyes  and  ran  unheeded  down 
her  cheeks. 

She  sat  down  at  the  piano  at  eight  o'clock,  determined 
that  she  would  play  her  way  back  into  his  mind.  Abnor- 
mally intensified,  she  never  played  better  than  she  did 
that  night.  As  she  went  on  the  wind,  which  had  been  in- 
creasing all  the  evening,  blew  up  to  a  gale,  and  moaned 
and  whined  about  the  chimneys  and  the  eaves.  Her  mood 
moved  with  it.  She  played  the  stormiest  things  she  knew 
from  Tschaikovsky,  Beethoven  and  Chopin,  and  when  her 
hands  dropped  from  the  keys  it  was  well  after  eleven,  and 
the  fire  behind  her  had  burned  low.  The  room  moved  with 
shadows  from  the  two  candles  which  flickered  in  the 
draught  that  came  under  the  doors  from  the  open  window 
on  her  side  of  the  house. 

Valerie  sat  still  at  the  keyboard  for  a  few  minutes,  af- 
fected by  the  troublous  suggestion  in  the  wind.  Then  she 
sprang  to  her  feet  electrified.  She  had  heard  her  name 
called,  called  as  if  it  had  come  out  of  a  long  distance,  a 


332  THE  STRANGE  'ATTRACTION 

weird  sound  like  a  wailing  from  the  storm.  Her  pulses 
raced  as  she  stood  listening  for  it  again.  But  she  heard 
nothing  more  than  the  moaning  about  the  old  house  and 
the  swishing  of  the  poplars  and  the  pines.  She  walked  to 
the  hall  door  and  opened  it,  straining  her  ears  for  sounds 
inside  the  house.  She  saw  her  supper  on  the  hall  table. 
She  stole  softly  along  as  far  as  the  bathroom.  There 
was  no  light  under  the  kitchen  door.  But  there  was  a 
light  under  the  door  of  the  den. 

She  could  see  there  was  a  fire  by  the  ebb  and  flow  of  the 
light.  There  was  no  sound  of  any  kind.  She  felt  Dane 
was  in  there  alone.  He  must  have  been  listening  to  her 
playing.  She  felt  a  fierce  impulse  to  open  the  door,  to 
go  in  and  see  what  he  looked  like,  what  he  was  doing.  It 
seemed  ridiculous  that  she  could  not.  The  first  thing 
that  restrained  her  was  the  thought  that  he  might  have 
fallen  asleep,  and  not  for  worlds  would  she  have  disturbed 
him  so.  But  she  played  with  the  impulse  for  some  min- 
utes. And  then  she  hesitated,  because  whatever  was  go- 
ing on  in  there  was  in  a  large  sense  his  own  affair,  at  least 
more  his  than  hers,  she  felt.  And  that  was  the  thought 
that  turned  her  back. 

She  carried  her  supper  tray  into  the  study  and  sat 
down.  Then  she  heard  her  name  called  again.  She  won- 
dered if  her  nerves  were  playing  tricks  with  her.  But  it 
seemed  a  clearer  call.  This  time  she  acted  without 
thought.  She  went  straight  to  the  door  of  the  den,  opened 
it,  and  went  in,  closing  it  at  once  behind  her.  What  she 
had  expected  she  did  not  know,  but  she  stood  with  her 
heart  beating  furiously.  She  looked  at  once  at  the  lounge 
placed  in  front  of  a  fire  that  had  been  banked  up  to  burn 
most  of  the  night. 

Stretched  out  on  his  back  upon  it,  with  his  face  turned 
to  the  ceiling,  Dane  lay  in  a  curiousty  lifeless  way,  with 


THE  STRANGE  ATTRACTION     333 

one  arm  hanging  over  the  side  and  the  other  flung  across 
his  breast.  His  skin  was  so  colourless  and  his  features  so 
peaceful  that  for  a  shattering  second  she  thought  him 
dead.  Then  she  saw  a  smile  play  about  his  mouth.  She 
recovered  herself,  but  was  afraid  to  stir,  thinking  him 
asleep.  She  saw  that  he  was  partly  dressed  under  his 
blue  silk  dressing-gown,  that  he  had  on  socks  and  evening 
slippers,  and  that  he  had  evidently  recently  shaved. 
There  was  a  small  cut  on  his  chin  and  a  tiny  streak  of 
blood.  She  wondered  if  he  had  meant  to  have  dinner  with 
her,  but  had  been  unequal  to  the  effort. 

A  piece  of  wood  fell  in  the  fireplace  making  quite  a 
startling  noise.  She  jumped  nervously  herself.  But  she 
saw  he  did  not  stir.  Then  something  about  the  dead 
whiteness  of  his  face  arrested  her.  She  spoke  his  name 
fearfully.  She  moved  up  to  the  lounge  and  spoke  again. 
He  did  not  move. 

Seeing  him  thus  for  the  first  time  unmistakably  under 
a  drug  it  came  to  her  with  the  force  of  a  blow,  though 
she  had  felt  for  some  time  that  he  was  using  something  to 
put  himself  to  sleep.  She  looked  at  his  wrists,  and  it  was 
not  the  first  time  she  had  looked  there  for  significant 
marks.  She  knew  nothing  of  the  effect  of  narcotics. 
She  had  thought  once  or  twice  lately  that  he  had  had  a 
strange  expression  in  his  eyes,  that  he  had  looked  through 
her  and  beyond  her  as  if  he  were  seeing  things  not  of  the 
earth.  How  far  he  had  gone  with  this  thing  she  did  not 
know.  Whether  he  was  powerless  against  it  she  did  not 
know.  How  long  it  would  be  before  he  was  unbearable 
because  of  it  she  did  not  know.  But  she  imagined  the 
worst. 

And  then  as  she  looked  at  him  a  smile  again  mysteri- 
ously came  to  life  upon  his  face,  and  flitted  about  it,  and 
faded  away.  She  felt  a  sudden  choking  pity  for  him.  At 


334  THE  STRANGE  ATTRACTION 

least,  poor  soul,  he  was  at  peace.  At  least  he  had  a 
respite  from  that  invisible  and  pitiless  foe  that  she  knew 
he  fought.  She  moved  him  a  little  on  the  lounge,  and  sat 
down  on  the  edge  of  it  and  stared  into  his  face.  It  had 
never  seemed  more  beautiful  in  spite  of  the  bluish  hollows 
under  the  eyes. 

She  wondered  when  he  had  taken  the  drug,  whether  it 
was  after  she  started  to  play,  and  if  so  why  then?  Had 
the  thought  of  her  been  too  much  for  him?  Something 
happened  to  her  as  she  sat  there  looking  at  him,  a  crisis 
in  the  evolution  of  feeling.  But  she  was  not  conscious  of 
it  till  afterwards.  She  was  caught  now  by  a  flood  of  pity 
and  affection.  The  impulse  came  to  her  to  lie  down  with 
him,  to  be  with  him  when  he  waked,  and  to  help  him  to 
fight  back  to  himself.  She  went  out  to  the  supper  tray, 
and  drank  a  glass  of  wine.  She  put  out  the  candles  in  the 
study,  and  saw  that  the  fire  was  safe. 

He  did  not  stir  as  she  moved  him  to  make  room  for 
herself.  She  thought  she  could  stay  there  all  night.  But 
her  mood  of  passionate  affection  wore  itself  out  as  she 
lay  there  uncomfortable  and  fiercely  awake,  listening  to 
the  storm  break  upon  the  house.  And  there  was  some- 
thing uncanny  about  Dane,  not  himself,  lying  there  be- 
side her,  like  a  dead  man.  The  hot  air  of  the  scented 
room  suffocated  her.  Something  absolutely  alien  to  her 
health  and  balance  irritated  her.  The  lashing  of  the  sleet 
upon  the  roof,  and  the  queer  straining  sounds  made  by 
the  creepers  fighting  for  their  hold  against  the  wind  kept 
her  nerves  continually  on  the  jump.  And  she  got  a  hope- 
less feeling  about  her  ability  to  help  him  when  he  woke. 

After  all,  she  was  doing  him  no  good  by  being  there. 
And  she  had  satisfied  the  sacrificial  mood  she  had  been 
in.  With  more  of  a  dull  dismay  in  her  mind  than  any- 
thing else  she  got  up  about  one  o'clock  and  went  back  to 


THE  STRANGE  ATTRACTION     335 

her  room.  It  was  too  wet  to  go  outside.  The  rain  beat 
against  her  canvas  blind,  and  underneath  it  along  the 
floor.  She  stood  by  her  open  window  till  she  began  to 
shiver,  but  the  cold  air  made  her  feel  better.  Her  nerves 
calmed  down.  She  felt  very  tired.  She  got  into  her  in- 
door bed  and  before  very  long  fell  asleep. 


V 

The  storm  wore  itself  out  during  the  night,  and  the 
next  day  was  fresh  and  clear.  Early  in  the  morning  Dane 
staggered  out  of  his  room  with  a  couple  of  rugs,  and  got 
into  his  hammock.  After  he  had  revived  himself  with  the 
coffee  Lee  brought  him  he  began  to  wonder  what  had  hap- 
pened to  him.  It  was  some  time  before  he  got  it  clearly 
in  his  mind.  He  remembered  coming  home,  he  remembered 
his  struggle  with  his  nerves  the  previous  day.  He  remem- 
bered he  had  wanted  music.  And  then  he  had  gone  into 
his  den  to  listen  to  it,  and  he  had  seen  that  dreadful  face, 
the  face  of  the  drowned  man.  He  could  remember  no 
more.  He  was  distressed  to  learn  what  day  it  was.  What 
would  Valerie  think  of  him?  He  had  told  her  he  was  go- 
ing to  Roland's  Mills.  She  would  think  he  had  lied. 

He  lay  still  all  the  morning  fighting  nausea,  wishing  he 
were  dead,  wondering  why  he  had  not  ended  it  all  up  there 
on  the  Hokianga  harbour  that  night.  He  told  himself  he 
was  a  miserable  weakling,  and  that  it  was  a  wonder  Va- 
lerie had  ever  loved  him,  but  she  had,  and  still  did  in  spite 
of  all  this,  that  was  the  wonderful  thing.  And  thinking 
of  that  his  will  began  again  its  fight  with  his  body. 

At  lunch  time  he  asked  Lee  what  she  was  doing,  and 
was  glad  to  hear  she  had  gone  out  to  garden.  He  made 
a  desperate  effort  to  shave  so  that  he  could  take  tea  with 
her,  but  he  did  not  feel  equal  to  meeting  her  till  dinner. 


336  THE  STRANGE  ATTRACTION 

Then  he  sent  a  message  to  her.  It  seemed  to  him  that 
she  came  as  buoyantly  as  usual  onto  the  verandah  where 
he  lay  in  the  dusk.  He  felt  like  a  sick  child  as  she  came 
up  to  him  and  leaned  over  him  and  put  her  arms  under 
him.  It  was  the  most  comforting  thing  he  had  ever  felt. 

"  Val,  I  did  mean  to  go  to  Roland's  Mills,"  he  said 
miserably. 

"  I  know  you  did,  Dane.  I  read  in  the  paper  what 
happened.  Please  get  well,  and  don't  think  about  it  any 
more.  I  know  you  were  not  lying  to  me." 

Happily  he  did  not  see  that  it  took  some  resolution  to 
put  the  tenderness  and  understanding  she  did  into  her 
voice. 

She  sat  down  by  him  and  took  his  hand  and  stroked  it, 
and  did  not  attempt  to  talk.  It  grew  dark.  Lee  came 
to  the  door  and  asked  where  they  would  have  the  meal. 

"  Is  it  too  cold  for  you  out  here,  Val?  I  want  to  stay 
outside." 

"  Not  at  all.     I'll  get  a  coat." 

And  afterwards  she  sat  and  then  lay  there  with  him 
till  two  in  the  morning,  keeping  the  longest  and  strangest 
silence  she  had  ever  kept  with  any  human  being.  But 
he  was  afraid  to  be  alone,  she  saw  that.  Once  when  she 
moved  he  clutched  at  her  fearfully,  and  that  pathetic 
appeal  had  given  her  a  strange  thrill.  Only  when  she 
saw  that  he  had  gone  to  sleep  did  she  very  carefully  work 
her  way  out  of  the  hammock,  cover  him  up  carefully,  and 
steal  inside. 

He  was  much  better  the  next  morning  and  walked  in  to 
her  as  she  sat  in  her  study.  She  got  up  and  kissed  him 
and  found  that  she  was  really  as  glad  as  ever  to  have  him 
restored  to  her. 

"  Valerie,  dear,  you  are  very  good  to  me,"  he  said 
humbly.  "  And  will  you  come  on  the  launch  with  me  for 


THE  STRANGE  ATTRACTION  337 

a  run  about  the  rivers?    Three  or  four  days.     I  want  to 

stay  out  in  the  air.    We  can  keep  warm." 

"  Why,  of  course  I  will,  Dane.     I'd  love  it  myself." 
And  he  was  so  much  better  at  the  end  of  the  trip  that 

Valerie  almost  forgot  what  she  had  felt  as  she  sat  beside 

him  on  the  lounge  in  his  den. 


CHAPTER  XIX 


VALERIE  and  Dane  were  at  Rotorua  when  the 
war  cloud  burst  over  Europe  at  the  end  of  July. 
For  two  weeks  he  had  been  much  in  the  company 
of  some  Englishmen  talking  over  the  rumours.  One  of 
the  travellers  had  been  only  recently  in  the  Balkans.  They 
all  thought  it  would  blow  over  till  they  read  the  cable 
telling  of  the  Russian  mobilization. 

Dane  was  much  more  roused  than  Valerie  over  the  news 
of  the  next  few  days.  His  health,  much  improved  by  a 
month  at  the  resort,  was  further  improved  by  his  pre- 
occupation with  the  outbreak  of  war.  On  the  first  of 
August  they  packed  up,  weeks  before  they  had  intended  to, 
and  returned  to  Auckland,  where  Dane  could  get  the  news 
as  it  reached  the  newspaper  offices.  He  spent  a  good  deal 
of  time  in  them  with  the  little  groups  of  men  who  sat 
waiting  for  news,  frantically  waiting  for  news,  cursing  the 
lack  of  news,  hating  their  isolation  from  the  maelstrom  of 
action.  There  seemed  to  be  a  conspiracy  of  silence  against 
newspaper  men.  The  cables  were  meagre  and  fragmen- 
tary. The  Government,  probably  left  much  in  doubt  it- 
self, kept  a  maddening  silence. 

And  because  of  this  lack  of  information,  any  man  who 
had  any  European  knowledge,  any  wide  knowledge  of  in- 
ternational affairs,  above  all,  any  knowledge  of  German 
schemes  and  philosophy,  was  listened  to  with  keen  atten- 
tion. Dane  had  lived  in  Germany,  and  had  read  and  seen 
something  of  the  policy  of  blood  and  iron.  He  knew 
Nietzsche  and  Treitschke.  He  knew  German  history,  and 

338 


THE  STRANGE  ATTRACTION  339 

he  had  seen  in  man}'  countries  of  the  world  how  their 
tentacles  were  reaching  out  into  the  entrails  of  other  na- 
tions. So  when  he  walked  into  his  club  men  gathered 
round  him  to  congratulate  him  on  the  articles  he  was 
writing  on  the  crisis,  and  to  his  amusement  his  reinstate- 
ment was  complete. 

And  Valerie,  with  her  imagination  now  fired  by  his,  as 
the  possibilities  of  the  war's  lasting  were  discussed,  began 
to  look  ahead  and  to  wonder  what  her  part  and  his  in  it 
might  be.  And  forgetting  personal  things  she  consented 
at  last  to  go  home  to  dine  with  her  father  and  mother, 
providing  relatives  she  disliked  were  not  present. 

In  the  week  before  they  returned  to  Dargaville  Daven- 
port Carr  invited  several  men  to  dinner  to  meet  Dane. 
Valerie,  the  only  woman  present  besides  her  mother,  was 
content  to  be  still,  to  sit  back,  and  to  watch  Dane  lead 
the  talk.  In  her  eyes  he  had  never  looked  handsomer,  and 
he  had  certainly  never  talked  better.  She  did  not  mind 
that  he  had  forgotten  her,  that  he  was  lost  in  the  subject 
of  the  Belgian  opposition.  She  had  again  that  curious 
feeling  as  to  his  phantom-like  quality  that  arrested  her  at 
most  unlikely  times.  She  forgot  all  about  his  weaknesses 
as  she  listened  to  him  talk  that  night.  They  did  not 
matter  at  all.  What  mattered  was  that  he  could  rise 
above  them  as  he  had  done  that  last  month  or  two.  In- 
deed, as  far  as  she  knew,  he  had  never  touched  drugs  or 
drunk  to  excess  since  the  night  she  had  sat  by  him  in  his 
den.  All  she  saw  that  night  was  the  picture  of  his  pale 
and  brilliant  face  surrounded  by  a  ring  of  tense  and  in- 
terested faces,  listening  fascinated  to  all  he  had  to  say. 

Valerie's  spirits  went  down  as  they  packed  up  to  go 
home.  Things  were  just  beginning  to  happen  about  them. 
The  little  Dominion  was  moving.  Men  were  coming  into 
the  cities  from  the  back-blocks  everywhere  to  form  the 


340  THE  STRANGE  ATTRACTION 

Legion  of  Frontiersmen.  Everybody  remembered  the 
Boer  war  and  the  contingents  that  had  sprung  up  in  a 
night.  It  was  this  stirring  all  about  them  that  caught 
Valerie's  spirit  of  adventure,  that  excited  her,  and  that 
made  the  return  to  Dargaville  seem  a  very  flat  affair. 

Most  of  the  way  home  she  was  wondering  what  she 
could  do  if  the  war  went  on.  No  one  had  begun  to  think 
yet  of  the  part  women  would  play,  but  they  had  gone  to 
the  Boer  war  in  all  kinds  of  capacity.  And  both  she  and 
Dane  were  free,  and  had  the  money  to  go.  She  did  not 
'doubt  then  that  she  would  be  able  to  persuade  him  to 
go,  or  that  it  would  take  any  persuading. 

When  the  steamer  reached  Dargaville  Roger  Benton, 
George  Rhodes,  Bob,  Allison  and  Bolton  and  several  other 
men  were  gathered  together  on  the  wharf.  It  did  not 
strike  Valerie  at  first  that,  eager  for  news,  they  had  come 
to  meet  her  and  Dane.  It  ended  by  their  all  going  to 
Mac's  to  dinner.  Mysteriously  the  hotel  filled  up  with 
men,  and  seeing  what  they  wanted  Dane  turned  himself 
into  an  informal  lecturer,  and  stood  half-way  up  the  stairs 
talking  all  he  knew  of  the  last  week's  doings  to  a  tense 
group  gathered  about  in  the  hall  and  round  the  bar  door. 

It  was  after  ten  o'clock  when  they  went  out  to  the 
Diana,  which  Dane  had  left  in  one  of  Mac's  boathouses. 
Valerie  had  a  funny  feeling  as  she  got  into  it  that  she  was 
being  cut  off  from  the  world,  as  if  she  had  been  dropped 
down  a  deep  well.  It  was  bad  enough  to  live  in  a  place 
like  New  Zealand  at  such  a  time,  isolated  from  the  biggest 
thing  in  history,  a  thing  that  was  actually  going  on  in 
your  own  day  and  not  in  dreams,  but  it  was  worse  to  be 
going  away  from  such  avenues  of  information  as  there 
were.  She  wondered  how  Dane  could  do  it.  And  just  for 
a  minute  she  felt  a  hostility  to  him  of  which  she  was 
ashamed. 


THE  STRANGE  ATTRACTION  341 

She  wondered  what  he  was  thinking  of  as  they  went  in 
silence  up  the  Wairoa.  He  had  been  talking  continuously 
for  hours  and  was  tired.  Was  he  thinking  as  she  was  of 
the  marching  men,  of  the  men  who  were  being  huddled  into 
hastily  improvised  camps,  of  the  men  hurrying  into  spe- 
cial night  trains,  of  the  scares  from  the  sea,  of  the  ru- 
mours that  had  sprung  up  everywhere  ?  She  did  not  know. 

He  ran  the  Diana  at  full  speed  by  the  light  of  a  half 
moon,  and  sat  tense,  his  head  a  little  forward,  his  hair 
pressed  under  a  tweed  cap,  his  hand  ready  to  turn  the 
launch  from  any  snag  that  the  river,  flooded  by  heavy 
rains,  might  spring  upon  him. 

Valerie  had  a  sense  of  unreality  when  they  turned  into 
their  own  little  bay.  The  peace  of  it  was  a  challenge  to 
the  folly  of  a  world  gone  mad.  And  why  not  turn  one's 
back  on  a  foolish  world  and  wait  in  peace  for  it  to  come  to 
its  senses  again? 

As  they  stood  on  the  landing  stage,  their  bags  beside 
them,  Dane  took  off  his  cap,  turned  to  her,  and  put  an 
arm  about  her  shoulders. 

"  It's  good  to  come  back  to  this,  dear,  isn't  it?  " 

She  gave  one  look  into  his  face  and  forgot  the  war. 

The  house  was  lit  up.  The  dogs  bounded  to  welcome 
them.  The  boys  came  out  to  the  verandah.  The  light 
streamed  through  the  three  windows  of  the  den  into  the 
shadows.  And  there  was  a  delicate  breath  of  spring  about 
the  still  garden.  The  world  was  falling  to  pieces  outside, 
but  the  old  station  kept  its  air  of  incorruptible  peace. 


II 

Two  months  later  Valerie  rode  alone  one  afternoon  into 
Dargaville  to  get  the  papers  and  the  mail.  Dane  had  not 
'been  well  for  a  day  or  two,  and  he  had  lain  in  his  ham- 


342  THE  STRANGE  ATTRACTION 

mock  all  that  morning  reading  papers  and  feasting  Ris 
ejes  on  a  bed  of  anemones  and  rununculas  that  she  had 
made  on  that  side  of  the  house.  In  spite  of  the  fine 
spring  weather  Valerie  did  not  feel  at  all  cheerful.  And 
it  was  not  the  news  from  the  outside  world  that  was  the 
sole  cause. 

She  stopped  in  front  of  the  News  and  whistled  the  call 
of  the  tui.  As  Bob  came  out  to  her  with  the  paper  she 
sensed  something  from  his  manner.  He  looked  up  soberly 
into  her  face. 

"  Val,  I'm  off,"  he  said  simply. 

"  Off,"  she  repeated. 

"  Yes,  Johnson  and  I  are  off  in  two  weeks'  time.  We're 
volunteering  for  the  Expeditionary  Force.  Why  do  you 
look  surprised?  We'll  all  be  in  it  soon,  if  it  goes  on." 

"  You  are  off,"  she  repeated  again.  "  Oh.  I'm  not. 
surprised,  Bob.  Dash  it!  I  wish  I  could  go,  could  do 
something." 

"  Well,  the  women  will  be  in  before  long.  And  you  can 
start  now,  if  you  want  to.  Benton  asked  me  if  I  thought 
you  would  come  back  here.  I  don't  know  whom  he  can 
get.  Men  are  going  to  be  scarce." 

"  Oh,  good  Lord,  Bob !  I  don't  want  to  come  back 
here.  I  want  to  go  to  the  war,  to  Egypt,  or  wherever  it 
is  you  men  are  all  going." 

"  Think  you  could  stand  it  ?  "  grinned  Bob.  "  It's  go- 
ing to  be  pretty  ugly,  you  know." 

"  Dash  it,  Bob !  I  can  stand  a  thing  if  I  have  to. 
You  never  will  understand  me,  will  you?  I  could  nurse  a 
man  the  war  had  smashed  up,  but  I'd  hate  to  nurse  a  man 
who  had  deliberately  fooled  about  in  the  rain  and  got 
pneumonia." 

Bob  looked  up  at  her  wondering  what  it  was  she  was 
regretting.  But  he  was  not  preoccupied  with  women  now. 


THE  STRANGE  ATTRACTION  343 

He  was  concerned  excitedly,  doubtfully,  and  a  little  fear- 
fully with  very  different  things. 

As  she  rode  home  Valerie's  mind  was  in  a  ferment.  The 
thing  that  Bob  had  told  her  had  shown  her  with  the  force 
of  a  revelation  the  tormenting  division  of  her  own  inter- 
ests. 

For  a  month  after  she  and  Dane  had  come  home  he  had 
been  absorbed  in  the  war,  had  written  excellently  about  it, 
and  had  seemed  so  much  better  in  health  that  her  fears 
about  him  had  subsided.  Then  for  no  reason  that  she 
could  see  he  had  slumped.  He  had  kept  on  writing,  but 
under  stimulants  again,  she  feared.  Sometimes  she  had 
not  seen  him  till  night  and  then  he  was  often  listless. 

But  they  were  still  in  love  with  each  other.  It  was  still 
possible  for  him  to  surprise  her,  to  move  to  her  like  a 
shining  presence.  She  loved  not  a  bit  the  less  his  looks, 
his  grace,  and  the  compelling  music  of  his  voice.  She 
cared  more  than  ever  for  his  love-making.  But  he  did  not 
overwhelm  her  as  he  had  done  in  the  beginning.  She  was 
recovering  dominant  factors  in  her  personality  that  he 
had  submerged  for  a  time.  There  was  a  large  part  of  her 
that  loved  a  fight,  that  loved  riding  head  first  at  obstacles 
and  sweeping  over  them,  and  the  work  on  the  News  had 
taught  her  what  she  could  do  in  that  direction,  that  she 
could  think  and  act  quickly,  revel  in  responsibility,  and 
make  people  do  their  best  for  her.  And  she  craved  to  use 
these  gifts,  to  show  what  she  could  do  now.  But  she 
wanted  the  big  field,  not  the  little  one. 

And  though  life  at  the  old  station  had  now  its  own 
tests  for  endurance  they  were  not  the  ones  she  wanted. 

Dane  was  still  lying  in  his  hammock  when  she  took  him 
the  mail.  As  she  sat  down,  Lee  brought  out  the  tea-tray. 
Dane  put  his  correspondence  aside,  ready  to  be  sociable. 

"  Don't  you  want  to  read  your  letters  ?  "  she  asked. 


344     THE  STRANGE  ATTRACTION 

"  iYes,  presently."  He  took  his  cup  from  her,  sipped 
from  it  and  put  it  down  on  the  red  table  beside  him. 

"  What  is  it,  Val?  "  She  felt  annoyed  that  she  had 
let  him  see  something  was  the  matter  with  her. 

"  Bob's  going,  and  Johnson.    They're  off  in  two  weeks." 

Dane  took  another  sip  of  tea  and  lit  a  cigarette.  Then 
he  looked  out  into  the  garden  before  turning  his  face  to 
her. 

"  We  needn't  be  sorry  for  them.     I  guess  they  want  to 

go-" 

"  Oh,  I'm  not  sorry  for  them,  Dane.  I'm  envying  them. 
I  never  wanted  to  be  a  man  before,  but  I  do  now."  She 
spoke  with  a  little  impatience. 

He  gave  her  a  quick  look.  "  What  do  you  want  to  do, 
Val?  Aren't  you  going  on  with  your  novel?  " 

"  Well,  I've  not  been  getting  on  very  well  with  it 
lately." 

"  Do  you  want  to  stop  it  and  get  into  something?  " 

This  was  the  first  time  he  had  put  the  question  to  her. 
He  had  been  thinking  about  asking  it  for  a  week  or  two, 
for  it  had  seemed  to  him  that  something  was  working  in 
her.  But  he  had  seen  no  sign  that  she  wished  to  get  away. 

"  Oh,  I  don't  know,"  she  answered  evasively,  wondering 
why  she  could  not  tell  him  frankly  what  she  did  want. 

"  Do  you  want  to  go  back  to  the  News  now  that  Bob 
is  going  away?  " 

"  Oh,  heavens  no !    Not  there,  no." 

"  Well,  what  is  it,  dear?  Do  you  want  to  go  to  Auck- 
land, to  get  into  something  bigger  there  ?  " 

"  Would  you  come  too?  " 

He  looked  at  her  and  away  again.  He  knew  it  was  the 
first  serious  challenge  that  had  passed  between  them. 

"  I  don't  know  about  going  for  any  length  of  time,"  he 
said  quietly.  "  I  can  work  better  here.  But  wouldn't 


THE  STRANGE  ATTRACTION  345 

you  go  without  me?  You  'can  if  you  wish  to,  you 
know." 

The  words  fell  like  clumps  of  lead  on  Valerie's  ears,  and 
she  must  have  shown  something  of  what  she  felt.  He 
turned  his  face  away  from  her  and  stared  out  into  the 
trees.  The  way  he  set  his  mouth,  as  if  he  were  shutting 
off  intolerably  painful  things  from  expression,  upset  her. 
She  could  never  bear  to  hurt  him.  To  his  astonishment 
she  got  up  from  the  table,  and  struggled  into  the  ham- 
mock beside  him  and  clung  to  him. 

He  turned  to  her  and  pressed  her  face  against  his  own. 

"  What  the  devil  is  it,  old  girl  ?  If  anything  is  trou- 
bling you  won't  you  tell  me?  " 

"  I  don't  want  to  go  without  you.  I  couldn't  go  with- 
out you." 

"  But  you  want  to  go?  " 

"  Well,  I  feel  I  ought  to  do  something." 

He  said  nothing  to  that,  and  they  lay  still  for  some 
time.  Then  she  raised  herself  and  looked  at  him. 

"  Please,  dear,  I'm  silly.  I  really  don't  want  to  go 
away  at  all." 

She  got  up  and  went  in  to  change  her  clothes,  and  in  a 
short  time  he  heard  her  playing  softly  a  berceuse  of 
Chopin's  that  he  particularly  loved. 

He  lay  as  she  had  left  him,  his  cigarette  burned  out, 
his  eyes  watching  the  flitting  of  a  fantail  about  the  honey- 
suckle, and  his  mind  working  on  the  question  as  to  how 
much  she  really  did  wish  to  go. 

Two  weeks  later  they  stood  in  the  early  morning  with  a 
large  portion  of  the  population  of  Dargaville  to  see  Bob 
and  Johnson  and  a  number  of  other  men  off  to  Auckland. 
Father  Ryan  was  on  board  to  accompany  the  men  as  far 
as  the  city.  Valerie  stood  with  Bob  till  the  last  minute. 
Dane  kept  away  from  them,  talking  to  men  from  up  the 


346  THE  STRANGE  ATTRACTION 

river.     And  he  made  himself  very  detached  in  manner  all 
that  day. 

Ill 

It  was  late  on  in  the  spring  when  they  had  finished 
lunch,  that  he  handed  her  a  cable  from  one  of  the  largest 
of  the  Sydney  papers  asking  if  he  would  consider  going 
to  Egypt  as  its  correspondent. 

Her  face  lit  up,  and  she  became  vividly  alive  in  a  mo- 
ment. 

"  Oh,  how  wonderful !  That's  the  very  thing,  isn't  it  ?  " 
Her  eyes  flashed  at  him.  Then  she  sobered  at  the  look  in 
his. 

"  Oh,  Dane,  don't  say  you  won't  take  it !  " 

"Would  that  hurt  you  very  much?  "  He  was  looking 
intently  at  her. 

"  Good  heavens !  You  wouldn't  think  of  turning  down 
such  a  chance,  would  you?  " 

"  Well,  you  couldn't  go  with  me,  Val,  you  know." 

"  But,  but — I  could  go  in  some  capacity  separately 
from  you.  Dad  can  manage  anything,  you  know.  We 
have  all  the  pull  we  want.  And  then  we  could  meet  there 
— really  I  don't  see — oh,  do  consider  it,  Dane." 

She  saw  his  mouth  stretch  on  his  teeth.  She  looked 
down  at  the  cable  again  and  read  the  date.  It  was  a 
week  old.  She  raised  her  face.  She  looked  at  him  and 
past  him. 

"  You've  refused." 

"  Yes,  Val,  I've  refused.  Don't  look  like  that,  old  girl. 
I  cannot  bear  it." 

He  got  up  from  the  table,  went  down  the  steps  into 
the  garden  and  round  the  front  of  the  house.  "  She 
thinks  I'm  afraid  to  go,"  he  kept  saying  to  himself. 

She  sat  still,  feeling  that  the  bottom  had  fallen  out  of 


THE  STRANGE  ATTRACTION  347 

the  world.  She  felt  rooted  to  her  chair.  But  she  saw 
that  every  minute  only  widened  the  gulf  of  that  misunder- 
standing. And  something  in  the  expression  of  his  eyes 
gripped  her  heart,  as  if  she  had  seen  a  child  falling  onto  a 
red-hot  stove.  She  jumped  up,  ran  through  the  house, 
and  saw  that  he  was  stumbling  along  the  drive  to  the  gate, 
going  like  a  man  who  neither  knew  nor  cared  where  he 
was  going.  He  did  not  stop  nor  turn  as  she  ran  calling 
after  him.  Near  the  gate  she  pulled  him  to  a  standstill. 

"Dane,  I  didn't  mean  to  hurt  you.  What  did  I  say? 
Please  don't  be  hurt.  It  makes  me  sick."  Her  voice 
broke.  "Dane,  do  you  hear?  Please  listen  to  me.  I 
want  to  know  why  you  refused.  Is  there  anything  you  are 
keeping  from  me?  Won't  you  tell  me,  please?  " 

He  let  his  arms  fall  over  the  top  rail  of  the  gate,  and 
dropped  his  head  upon  them. 

"What  is  it,  Dane?  Aren't  you  well  enough  to  go? 
What  is  the  matter?  Please,  I'm  going  to  know  now." 

Then  he  looked  up.  "  Part  of  it  is  that  I  am  not  well 
enough  to  go,  Val.  I'm  not  afraid  to  go.  But  a  man  has 
to  be  awfully  fit  to  travel  in  all  weathers  and  eat  all  kinds 
of  grub.  It  is  my  stupid  stomach.  I'd  be  sick  most  of 
the  time,  and  that  is  not  fair  to  the  paper  or  to  the  man. 
who  could  go  and  stick  it." 

"And  the  rest?" 

"What?" 

"  The  rest  of  the  reason?  " 

For  answer  he  dropped  his  head  onto  her  shoulder. 
And  she  knew  she  could  never  go  as  long  as  he  felt  like 
that. 

Then  she  felt  him  stiffen  himself.  He  stood  up  straight 
as  if  he  were  bracing  himself  against  an  obstacle. 

"  Val  dear,  I  wish  you  to  do  what  you  want  to  do  with- 
out thinking  of  me.  I  quite  understand  your  wanting  to 


348  THE  STRANGE  ATTRACTION 

be  in  this  thing.  I  do  really.  And  if  you  want  to  go  I 
want  you  to  go.  You  see  the  work  I  can  do  is  here.  The 
papers  want  my  stuff,  and  I  can  write  it  here,  better  here 
than  anywhere,  as  you  know.  But  that  is  no  reason  why 
you  should  not  go  to  Auckland  if  you  want  to  go,  and 
further,  Val,  if  you  want  to  go  further.  Please  believe 
you  are  free,  once  you  make  up  your  mind.  But  you 
must  be  happy  about  it,  Val,  about  staying  here,  if  you 
stay.  I  cannot  have  you  unhappy  about  it."  His  voice 
ended  harshly. 

She  could  not  look  at  him  and  tell  him  she  wished  to 
go.  She  could  not  look  at  him  as  he  stood  there  and  even 
feel  that  she  wished  to  go.  She  threw  her  arms  about  him. 

"  Dane,  I  won't  consider  going  away  without  you.  Do 
you  hear,  dear?  " 

"  Yes,"  he  said,  much  comforted,  putting  his  lips  to 
hers. 

There  followed  days  of  peace  and  understanding  be- 
tween them,  an  interlude,  a  deliberate  shelving  of  the 
future,  for  Dane  knew  she  was  not  completely  happy,  and 
she  knew  she  could  not  keep  up  the  appearance  of  being 
so  forever.  But  because  they  had  so  much  in  common, 
because  they  could  always  be  happy  in  the  launch,  always 
aware  of  the  beauty  of  the  garden,  they  could  keep  the 
other  side  out  of  sight.  But,  watching  her  when  he  could, 
he  saw  that  she  was  growing  paler,  that  often  she  looked 
as  if  she  had  not  slept,  that  her  manner  was  becoming  de- 
liberately cheerful. 

He  wondered  how  he  could  really  get  at  her  state  of 
mind,  at  how  much  she  was  keeping  from  him. 


CHAPTER  XX 


ONE  night  in  the  beginning  of  January  Valerie 
walked  alone  back  and  forth  along  the  drive  on 
what  she  called  her  side  of  the  house.  She  had 
not  seen  Dane  all  day.  She  had  asked  nothing  about  him, 
and  supposed  him  gone  to  Dargaville.  For  a  week  he 
had  been  aloof  from  her,  tired  and  listless.  She  did  not 
know  whether  he  had  done  any  work.  He  had  looked  at 
her  in  a  queer  appealing  way,  she  had  thought,  several 
times,  and  she  thought  she  had  done  wonders  in  the  way 
of  ignoring  his  mood. 

She  had  remembered  when  she  woke  that  morning  that 
it  was  the  third  anniversary  of  their  wedding  day. 
Though  she  was  as  unsentimental  as  ever  about  the 
conventional  ceremony  she  had  wondered  if  Dane  would 
give  any  sign  of  memory,  and  was  absurdly  hurt  that  he 
had  not.  It  was  the  first  time  he  had  forgotten  to  tease 
her  about  it.  And  now  she  had  not  even  seen  him. 

Whether  it  was  remembering  it  or  what,  she  had  come  to 
another  crisis  this  night.  She  was  taking  stock  again  of 
her  endurance,  wondering  desperately  how  many  months 
she  could  go  on.  For  it  seemed  to  her  now  that  Dane 
was  going  down  hill  fast,  and  she  had  lost  every  scrap  of 
hope  that  he  would  ever  be  better.  She  was  certain  be- 
yond all  doubt  that  he  could  not  save  himself,  and  that 
she  could  not  save  him.  If  their  love  could  not  do  it  noth- 
ing could.  She  had  suffered  tortures  during  the  last  two 
months  over  the  lines  that  were  deepening  on  his  face  and 
over  the  sallowness  that  was  tainting  his  fine  skin.  And 

349 


350  THE  STRANGE  ATTRACTION 

she  knew  she  could  no  more  bear  to  stay  and  helplessly 
watch  that  descent  than  she  could  have  borne  to  stand  on 
a  beach  and  watch  a  gallant  ship  going  to  pieces  on  the 
rocks.  For  that  was  the  most  tragic  thing  about  it,  it 
was  a  gallant  ship.  If  he  would  only  degenerate  com- 
fortably as  her  father  had  done !  But  he  was  dying  hard. 
And  he  was  only  forty.  She  could  not  stand  it.  And  the 
war,  which  was  remaking  so  many  men,  could  do  nothing 
now  for  him. 

But  when  was  she  to  go  from  him  ?  How  was  she  to  go 
from  him? 

She  could  not  forget  the  pledge  she  had  given  him  in 
her  own  mind,  her  determination  to  be  fair,  to  give  him 
what  she  owed  him.  But  there  was  the  rub.  What  ex- 
actly did  she  owe  him  when  it  came  to  considering  con- 
crete things?  How  was  she  to  decide  when  she  had  reached 
that  obscure  boundary  line,  that  elusive  boundary  line, 
that  disconcertingly  wavering  boundary  line  where  con- 
sideration for  him  must  end  and  consideration  for  herself 
begin?  Could  fairness  and  loyalty  be  computed  in  so 
many  months  or  3rears  of  one's  company,  in  carefully  mod- 
ulated tones  and  carefully  regulated  moods?  How  many 
hours  and  nights  of  sleepless  struggle  were  to  be  endured 
before  one  came  to  the  last?  What  was  endurable?  What 
was  unendurable?  How  many  chances  should  one  give  a 
person?  How  many  times  should  one  renew  one's  hope, 
how  many  times  make  the  effort  to  forget? 

And  there  was  the  strange  fact  that  she  still  cared,  that 
when  he  came  to  a  high  mood  (he  had  not  had  one  for 
weeks,  she  remembered)  he  could  still  carry  her  with  him. 
But  she  could  not  bear  to  think  that  sex  was  the  best 
she  could  do  for  him  now.  She  did  not  realize  how  much, 
apart  from  that,  her  company  still  meant  to  him.  And 
she  was  afraid  of  being  chained  to  him  by  that  alone.  She 


THE  STRANGE  ATTRACTION  351 

knew  she  would  come  to  hate  him  if  that  were  the  chief 
bond. 

"  I  don't  want  to  stay  till  I  hate  him.  I  cannot  stay 
till  I  hate  him.  It  wouM  ruin  it  all.  But  is  that  what  I 
have  to  do?  And  why  should  I  ever  hate  him?  What  is 
the  matter  with  me?  Why  can't  I  just  stay,  and  stay, 
and  wait — oh,  why?  " 

The  fact  that  he  had  told  her  to  go  did  not  help  her  at 
all.  He  could  look  at  her  and  say  go,  but  his  eyes  and 
his  spirit  chained  her  there.  And  she  could  not  face  the 
actual  packing  up  and  going  out  of  the  gate  for  the  last 
time.  Kissing  him  for  the  last  time.  Eating  the  last 
meal.  Impossible !  Good  Lord !  How  did  people  ever  get 
away  from  each  other?  And  she  was  not  thinking  of 
herself  then.  She  could  see  him  left  alone,  lying  alone  in 
his  hammock,  wishing  she  were  there  to  play  to  him,  look- 
ing for  her  to  come  through  the  study  door.  She  could 
see  him  pacing  the  verandah  and  the  garden  alone  with 
those  terrible  despairs  of  his.  She  could  see  him  sitting 
down  with  his  knees  drawn  up  to  his  chin  and  the  dogs 
licking  his  face  and  hands.  The  lost  child.  She  wished 
he  had  never  told  her  that  story  of  his  boyhood;  she  al- 
ways saw  him  like  that  when  she  thought  of  leaving  him, 
that  forlorn  boy  deserted  by  his  father.  And  she  knew 
she  could  never  bear  herself  again  in  life  if  she  deserted 
him. 

And  so  after  all,  as  she  walked,  she  decided  again  as 
she  had  decided  before.  She  would  not  leave  him  so  long 
as  his  eyes  could  light  up  when  she  went  through  the 
study  door,  as  long  as  anything  she  could  do  helped  him 
to  write,  as  long  as  he  counted  for  something  among  peo- 
ple who  were  helped  by  the  thing  he  was  still  able  to  do. 

Sacrifice,  was  it?  That  bogy  of  her  free  and  inde- 
pendent youth.  That  Frankenstein  foe  of  individuality. 


352  THE  STRANGE  ATTRACTION 

Well,  what  of  it?     She  thought  of  what  was  happening  in 
Gallipoli  and  France. 

She  had  run  through  many  shades  of  feeling  as  she 
walked.  She  had  shed  tears  and  stumbled,  and  had  used 
her  handkerchief  frequently.  She  had  stopped  and 
looked  up  at  the  stars,  and  had  stood  still  and  stared  at 
the  ground.  She  had  walked  twice  into  the  stream  of 
light  from  a  lamp  in  the  study.  Two  hours  of  it,  and 
worn  out  and  ready  to  go  on  again,  she  went  inside. 


n 

Dane  had  not  gone  to  Dargaville  as  she  supposed.  Un- 
able to  sleep  the  night  before  he  had  gone  out  on  the  river 
and  had  wandered  up  and  down  creeks  till  at  last  he  had 
fallen  into  a  doze  on  the  floor  of  the  Diana.  The  sun  was 
well  up  when  he  waked  but  he  did  not  go  home.  He  went 
to  Te  Koperu  for  some  coffee,  had  some  sandwiches  made 
up,  and  drifted  along  up  the  shady  bank  of  the  Wairoa 
trying  to  screw  himself  up  to  the  action  he  had  known  for 
some  time  to  be  inevitable. 

He  had  been  far  more  abstemious  in  the  last  months 
than  Valerie  had  any  idea  of.  He  was  suffering  from 
abstemiousness.  For  weeks  the  only  stimulant  he  had 
taken  was  coffee.  He  knew  well  enough  as  he  drifted  about 
in  the  launch  that  he  had  been  listless  and  aloof  from 
Valerie.  For  days  now  he  had  been  wondering  most  of 
the  time  just  how  much  of  a  mask  she  was  wearing, 
whether  she  had  come  to  the  time  when  she  would  be 
happier  away  from  him  than  with  him.  He  had  been 
puzzling  about  it.  How  was  he  to  find  out  how  much  she 
wrrted  to  go,  how  far  she  was  disguising  her  feeling  for 
his  sake?  He  could  only  do  it  by  getting  her  off  her 
guard  somehow.  But  she  was  never  off  her  guard. 


THE  STRANGE  ATTRACTION  353 

Then  he  got  the  idea  that  he  would  sneak  home  after 
dark  that  night  and  spy  upon  her.  He  did  not  take  the 
launch  into  the  bay,  but  secured  it  on  the  point  further 
on,  the  point,  he  remembered,  where  she  had  trespassed. 
Then  he  made  his  way  cautiously  along  the  rocks  among 
the  trees  and  into  the  shrubbery  in  front  of  his  house. 
As  he  moved  forward  he  saw  her  white  dress  on  the  drive. 
In  a  dark  suit  himself  he  was  invisible  as  he  stood  in  a 
thicket  of  micracarpa. 

Valerie  came  towards  him,  blowing  her  nose.  She  did 
not  swing  along.  She  walked  unevenly  kicking  at  stones 
in  the  path,  stopping,  going  on  again.  She  turned  and 
disappeared  along  the  drive,  and  appeared  again.  That 
time,  as  she  moved  in  the  line  of  light  from  the  study,  he 
was  able  to  see  her  face.  It  startled  him.  Four  times 
he  saw  it  thus,  desperate  and  haggard.  He  clenched  his 
hands  and  set  his  teeth.  Good  God!  Had  she  got  as  far 
as  that  in  disillusionment  without  his  knowing  it?  He  was 
stunned. 

He  watched  her  go  inside.  A  match  came  to  light  in 
her  own  front  room,  and  then  the  lamp.  He  stole  nearer 
till  he  could  clearly  see  her  face  against  a  background  of 
red  curtain.  He  saw  her  take  his  picture  and  look  at  it. 
But  there  was  no  hatred  in  her  face  as  she  stared  at  it. 
The  meaning  in  her  expression  came  over  him  with  the 
force  of  sudden  revelation. 

He  crept  off  through  the  bushes  and  round  to  his  back 
room  and  sat  down  on  the  step  of  the  one  door  that 
opened  outside.  How  long  he  sat  there  he  did  not  know. 
It  was  a  fine  warm  night.  Weary  of  sitting  and  staring 
at  the  sandy  path,  weary  of  trying  to  think,  of  trying 
not  to  think,  he  got  up  at  last  and  went  to  lie  in  his 
hammock.  He  dozed  off  in  spite  of  himself,  and  did  not 
wake  till  the  sun  came  streaming  through  his  cutting  upon 


354  THE  STRANGE  ATTRACTION 

his  face.  It  was  half-past  five.  He  went  very  quietly  into 
the  house  to  the  kitchen  and  washed  and  shaved  there,  as 
he  often  did  when  he  did  not  wish  to  disturb  Valerie  by 
making  sounds  in  the  bathroom.  Lee  came  in  in  his 
pajamas  to  know  if  he  wanted  anything,  and  Dane  had 
him  get  the  remains  of  a  cold  chicken  for  him,  and  told 
him  to  tell  Valerie  that  he  wanted  to  take  her  out  on  the 
river  that  afternoon.  After  he  had  changed  his  clothes 
and  drunk  a  glass  of  wine,  he  went  out  and  along  to  the 
place  where  he  had  left  the  launch  the  night  before. 

As  he  went  down  the  river  to  Dargaville  he  thought  it 
funny  thab  the  mere  resolving  to  do  a  thing  he  had  long 
shelved  should  give  him  such  a  feeling  of  strength.  He 
remembered  the  mood  of  exaltation  he  had  had  up  at 
Hokianga  for  days  after  he  had  decided  not  to  shoot  him- 
self. Was  it  that  when  one  had  accepted  Fate  the  re- 
lentless goddess  gave  one  some  potent  stimulant  to  enable 
one  to  live  calmly  by  her  stern  decrees? 

As  it  was  very  early  he  went  some  distance  beyond  the 
town.  Nothing  was  stirring  there  except  men  on  the 
decks  of  a  timber  barque  at  the  railway  wharf.  He  was 
soothed  by  his  aloneness  in  the  new  day.  There  had  been 
a  time  in  his  life  when  eleven  o'clock  at  night  began  the 
thrilling  hours,  but  now,  of  all  the  twenty-four,  he  liked 
best  the  dawn. 

But  the  dawns  were  tragic  these  days,  he  remembered, 
and  he  began  to  wonder  how  many  men  in  Europe 
would  be  out  of  the  world  by  night,  never  to  see  another 
day. 

He  turned  back,  and  walked  into  Mac's  pub  as  the 
first  lot  of  breakfasters  were  finishing  their  second  cup  of 
coffee.  He  drank  his  with  the  big  Irishman  who  asked 
him  no  questions,  nor  cast  at  him  enquiring  looks,  though 
Mac  did  wonder  what  mood  had  brought  him  there  so 


THE  STRANGE  ATTRACTION  355 

early.  Then  Dane  found  Michael,  and  asked  him  to  get 
a  message  to  Doctor  Steele  to  come  to  him  there.  When 
the  physician  arrived  he  took  him  upstairs  to  the  room  he 
always  occupied  when  he  spent  nights  in  the  hotel. 

The  doctor  sat  down  on  the  one  chair  and  waited. 
Dane  walked  to  the  window,  where  he  stared  out  a 
moment.  Then  he  turned  back  and  looked  down  at  the 
other  man. 

"  Doc,  do  you  know  much  about  cancer  ?  "  he  asked 
quietly. 

The  gloomy  brown  eyes  did  not  change  their  expression 
as  they  looked  up  at  him. 

"  I  wouldn't  call  myself  an  expert.  I  wouldn't  operate. 
Why  do  you  ask?  " 

"  My  father  died  of  cancer  in  the  stomach.  I've  been 
wondering  for  some  time  if  that  is  what  I  have." 

There  was  a  dead  silence  for  a  few  seconds.  Then  the 
doctor  spoke  in  his  low  monotonous  manner. 

"  Cancer  is  hardly  a  thing  to  go  wondering  about. 
And  there's  a  theory  now  that  it  is  not  hereditary.  It 
may  only  be  indigestion."  He  asked  him  several  questions 
which  Dane  answered  in  a  hard  detached  tone. 

"  It  looks  bad,  Barrington,  but  really,  it  may  only  be 
indigestion." 

"  That's  what  I've  preferred  to  think,  Doc.  I've  shirked 
finding  out.  But  I've  got  to  know  now." 

"  Go  at  once  to  Alleyne,  and  get  him  to  make  the  tests. 
If  it  is  that,  he's  the  best  man  to  operate,  none  better  in 
the  colonies.  You  mustn't  let  it  go  on." 

"  I  guess  *  letting '  has  nothing  to  do  with  it,  Doc," 
said  Dane  with  a  twisted  smile.  "  There  is  an  inevita- 
bility about  cancer,  a  damnable  inevitability.  It's  that  I 
don't  like.  I  resent  it.  God!  what  a  rottenly  feeble 
thing  a  man  is!  Limited  by  his  stomach!  Regulated  by 


356  THE  STRANGE  ATTRACTION 

his  stomach !  Hounded  by  his  stomach !  Made  or  marred 
by  his  stomach!  To  think  that  that  ugly  uninterest- 
ing organ,  a  mess  of  a  place,  should  be  one's  dictator,  a 
thing  made  beyond  one's  control,  ruined  in  one's  youth 
beyond  one's  control !  Ugh !  Excuse  me,  Doc.  I've  faced 
it  long  enough.  I  ought  to  be  used  to  the  idea." 

He  walked  to  the  window  and  looked  out  again  before 
turning  back. 

"  I  say,  Doc.     You  must  promise  me  something." 

"Yes?" 

"  You  mustn't  hint  this  to  a  soul.  Under  no  circum- 
stances must  Valerie  get  a  suspicion  of  it.  She  thinks 
I've  got  indigestion.  You  promise  ?  " 

"  If  you  wish  it,  certainly." 

"  I  more  than  wish  it,  I  insist  on  it."  He  went  on  feel- 
ing a  relief  in  talking  to  someone  remote  like  the  doctor. 
"  You  see,  she  wants  to  go  to  the  war,  and  I  want  her  to 
go.  I  particularly  want  her  to  get  away  now  before  I  get 
any  worse.  If  she  knew  of  this,  thought  my  days  were 
limited,  she'd  think  it  her  duty  to  stay  by  me  to  the  end. 
She's  so  damned  conscientious.  And  women,  some  women, 
have  a  ghastly  capacity  for  self-sacrifice,  and  then  they 
grow  to  hate  the  thing  they  have  sacrificed  themselves  for. 
Many  wives  have  told  me  that.  And  perhaps  she  would, 
and  I  couldn't  bear  it.  I  couldn't  stand  having  her  about 
me  if  she  knew.  I  should  be  driven  to  end  it.  I  shall  do 
that  some  day  when  I  can't  stick  it  any  longer.  But  she 
must  get  away.  And  then  one  has  no  right  to  impose 
such  a  thing  as  cancer  in  the  stomach  on  any  human  soul 
— don't  pity  me,  Doc ;  that's  the  last  thing  on  earth  I  can 
stand " 

"  God  damn  you,  I'm  not  pitying  you,  Barrington." 

Dane  smiled  at  him. 

"  I  don't  know  that  you've  got  cancer.     And  if  you 


THE  STRANGE  ATTRACTION  357 

Have,  Alleyne  may  save  you.    For  the  Lord's  sake,  though, 

go  at  once  and  find  out." 

"  I  will.     I'll  go  down  to-morrow.     And  not  a  word, 

please,  Doc." 

"  Oh,  shut  up,  D.  B.    It's  part  of  my  work  to  be  silent." 
But  all  the  same  the  doctor  told  himself  that  Valerie 

should  know  some  day. 


Ill 

When  Dane  left  the  hotel  he  walked  through  the  town 
and  onto  the  flat  above.  He  had  a  craving  to  get  out  to 
the  open  sea.  Though  the  interview  with  the  doctor  was 
not  final  it  made  no  difference  to  his  own  feeling  about  it. 
But  it  struck  him  as  he  wandered  across  the  hot  sandspit 
that  it  would  be  funny  if  he  discovered  he  had  nothing 
but  indigestion.  Would  that  knowledge  help  him  to  get 
well  enough  to  go  away  with  Valerie?  Perhaps  it  would. 
He  had  been  hypnotized  by  the  fear  of  the  other  thing  for 
a  good  while,  or  rather  he  had  accepted  it  as  inevitable. 
He  wandered  aimlessly  along,  oblivious  of  the  glaring  sun, 
till  he  came  by  chance  upon  the  little  hollow  on  the  cliffs 
where  he  and  Valerie  had  had  their  first  attaching  talk. 
Thinking  of  it  he  remembered  that  he  had  left  her  very 
much  alone  for  some  time,  and  that  here  was  a  day,  per- 
haps the  last  (though  he  had  not  at  all  clearly  in  his 
mind  what  he  was  going  to  do),  a  day  that  he  could  make 
a  pleasant  memory.  For  he  felt  fairly  well,  and  now  he 
wanted  to  comfort  her  for  the  night  he  felt  she  must  have 
spent. 

He  walked  back  to  the  town  hardly  feeling  the  heat,  and 
ran  home  as  fast  as  he  could.  It  was  much  too  early  for 
lunch,  but  he  wanted  to  see  her  at  once.  He  walked  past 
the  front  steps  and  saw  that  she  was  sitting  at  her  desk. 


358  THE  STRANGE  ATTRACTION 

"  Hello,  Val,  are  you  very  busy?  "  he  called. 

The  question  seemed  absurd  to  her.  It  seemed  so  long 
since  she  had  done  anything  that  was  worth  a  pin. 
But  she  was  glad  to  hear  him  call  like  that,  and  not  dis- 
posed to  question  the  reason  for  it. 

"  Not  if  you  want  me,  Dane,"  she  answered  cheerfully 
enough. 

As  he  came  to  the  verandah  she  scrambled  through  the 
window.  She  was  surprised  at  his  air  and  saw  that  he  had 
not  been  drinking,  and  that  his  eyes  looked  clear. 

"  Why,  you  are  burned,"  she  said. 

"  I've  been  running  about  in  the  launch  a  good  deal, 
dear.  I've  been  very  unsociable  lately,  Valerie,  but  I  feel 
better  to-day.  Let's  go  off  now  in  the  launch  and  find  a 
cool  spot." 

Her  face  lit  up  as  she  felt  he  had  come  back  to  her. 
She  had  spent  a  lonely,  wretched,  sleepless  night,  and  she 
was  much  afraid  her  eyes  showed  it.  They  did,  but  he 
made  no  remark  upon  them.  He  was  lost  in  admiration 
of  the  manner  in  which  she  had  greeted  him.  He  delib- 
erately shelved  the  past  and  the  future,  and  determined, 
as  he  had  many  times  in  his  life,  to  live  for  that  day  alone. 
And  he  knew  he  could  make  her  live  with  him. 

They  went  off  with  their  lunch.  At  first  he  thought  he 
would  go  to  the  rimu  pool,  and  then  he  thought  he  could 
not  face  it.  He  chose  another  place,  beautiful  enough,  a 
willow-girdled  backwater,  where  they  ate  their  lunch,  and 
dozed  happily  in  each  other's  arms. 

Then  they  landed,  made  a  fire  and  had  tea,  and  went 
back  as  the  sun  dropped  behind  the  range.  They  were 
both  now  in  a  real  party  mood.  Valerie  wondered  what 
had  happened  to  him.  In  moods  like  this  he  was  irre- 
sistible. They  dressed  up  for  dinner  and  had  it  by  one 
of  the  open  doors  of  the  den.  Dane  wore  his  black  dinner 


THE  STRANGE  ATTRACTION  359 

suit  and  a  tucked  white  silk  shirt  that  she  thought  very 
swagger.  She  knew  he  was  trying  to  atone  for  his  past 
aloofness,  and  she  was  only  too  glad  to  have  him  atone. 
What  man  could  ever  atone  as  he  could,  she  thought.  She 
herself  wore  one  of  her  most  charming  garments,  a  diaph- 
anous blue  thing,  appropriate  not  only  to  her  mood,  but 
to  the  climate  of  the  day.  They  drank  Benedictine  in  a 
mood  of  strange  gaiety,  and  then  he  teased  her  about  the 
three  years. 

"  Why,  I  thought  you  had  forgotten  all  about  it,"  she 
said. 

"  Oh,  no,"  he  smiled  over  his  glass  at  her,  "  I've  been 
thinking  of  it."  He  looked  round.  Lee  was  not  in  the 
room.  "  And  you  still  love  me,  don't  you?  "  His  eyes 
bored  into  hers. 

"  Indeed  I  do,"  she  said,  over-emphasizing  her  tone  a 
little.  He  put  his  glass  to  her  lips,  and  his  at  the  same 
place.  And  then  Lee  came  in  with  the  chicken. 

They  smoked  together  in  the  hammock  afterwards  until 
he  asked  for  music.  When  she  had  been  playing  for  an 
hour  he  went  round  to  the  front  and  looked  through  the 
window  at  her.  He  saw  that  for  the  time  being  she  was 
lost,  lost  in  that  wonderful  world  of  harmony  where  she 
could  forget  even  him.  He  was  glad  that  she  had  that. 
He  forgot  what  she  was  playing  as  he  looked  at  her,  try- 
ing to  fix  that  picture  of  her  in  his  mind.  He  wanted  it 
to  blot  out  the  one  of  the  night  before. 

How  near  had  he  come  to  her,  he  wondered.  What 
secrets  had  she  still  hidden  from  him?  Love  had  not 
meant  domination  for  either  of  them,  nor  had  either  tried 
to  clutch  at  the  other's  personality.  They  had  kept  their 
own  freedom  side  by  side,  he  thought,  but  even  so,  love 
was  not  enough.  And  he  knew  the  end  would  have  come 
some  time,  somehow. 


360  THE  STRANGE  ATTRACTION 

He  did  not  know  exactly  what  he  was  going  to  do  as 
he  stood  there  watching  her.  He  did  not  try  to  see  be- 
yond the  fact  that  some  time  in  the  night  when  she  had 
fallen  asleep  he  would  steal  away  from  her,  and  would 
dress  and  pack  and  go  off  to  catch  the  steamer  in  the 
morning.  What  happened  after  that  would  depend  on 
what  Dr.  Alleyne  had  to  say. 

He  came  back  to  thinking  of  the  picture  she  made  at 
the  piano.  He  wished  now  he  had  taken  her  hair  down 
so  that  she  would  look  what  he  had  often  called  her,  a 
goddess  in  lapus  lazuli  and  gold.  He  had  to  smile  a  little 
sadly  to  himself.  He  was  incurably  a  lover  of  colour  and 
light.  And  she  was  colour  and  light.  He  suddenly  re- 
membered the  hours  were  going.  He  went  up  the  steps 
and  in  to  her  and  flung  his  arms  about  her. 

"  Don't  play  any  more.  I  want  you,"  he  said,  taking 
her  face  in  his  hands. 


IV 

Dane  managed  to  get  an  appointment  the  day  after  he 
arrived  in  Auckland  with  Dr.  Alleyne,  a  fine  and  sensitive 
London  surgeon  who  had  come  to  the  colonies  for  his  own 
health  a  few  years  before. 

"  Where's  the  trouble,  Barrington?  "  he  asked  as  soon 
as  Dane  sat  down,  for  he  could  give  him  only  ten  minutes 
that  day. 

"  It's  probably  cancer  of  the  stomach." 

The  doctor  raised  his  eyebrows  at  the  man  who  said 
this  as  if  it  were  a  matter  of  no  concern. 

"  What  makes  you  think  that?  " 

His  patient  told  him  all  he  knew  about  it. 

"  Good  heavens,  man !  Why  haven't  you  come  to  me 
before?  " 


THE  STRANGE  ATTRACTION  361 

"  Oh,  I've  shirked  it.  It  won't  make  much  difference  in 
the  end,  will  it?  " 

"  It  might  have,  if  you  had  come  to  me  a  year  ago. 
Look  here,  I'm  pretty  rushed  these  days.  Can  you  be 
here  at  eight- thirty  to-morrow  morning?  " 

"  Certainly." 

At  the  end  of  four  days  Dane  knew  his  fears  were  justi- 
fied. 

"  You  must  be  operated  on  at  once,  Barrington." 

"What  for?" 

"  What  for  ?  "  Dr.  Alleyne  looked  at  him.  He  had 
already  discovered  he  had  an  unusual  patient. 

"  I  was  really  speaking  to  myself,"  said  Dane  with  a 
twisted  smile.  "  Might  the  operation  be  fatal?  " 

"  Well,  I  don't  want  to  boast,  but  I  don't  have  fatal 
operations." 

"  So  I've  heard,  but  you  could  make  one  fatal,  couldn't 
you?" 

The  doctor  stared  across  his  desk  at  him. 

*'  You  might  have  a  year  or  two  after  an  operation,  if 
you  were  careful,  kept  off  stimulants,  meat  and  drugs. 
Isn't  it  worth  it?  It  seems  to  me  the  stuff  you're  writing 
these  days " 

Again  the  smile  on  the  other  man's  face  stopped  him. 

"  If  I  don't  have  the  operation  how  much  time  do  you 
give  me?  " 

"It  will  depend  largely  on  yourself,  whether  you  do  as 
I've  told  you.  But  it  is  pretty  far  gone,  and  sometimes 
those  things  go  quickly  at  the  end.  You  might  have  six 
months.  You  might  even  have  a  year.  It  would  depend 
on  your  endurance.  It's  a  matter  of  slow  starvation." 

Dane  got  up  from  his  chair  and  walked  to  the  window. 
But  he  saw  nothing  of  the  street  below.  Indeed,  he  saw 
nothing  that  bore  any  relation  to  his  immediate  environ- 


362  THE  STRANGE  ATTRACTION 

ment  or  to  anything  he  had  just  heard.  What  He  saw 
was  a  picture  that  had  come  into  his  mind  many  times 
in  the  last  two  years,  a  picture  that  had  etched  itself  upon 
his  brain.  It  was  a  picture  of  a  snow-bound  world,  of  a 
little  hut,  of  a  certain  Captain  Gates  taking  a  "  little 
walk  "  out  into  that  undiscovered  country,  and  of  a  cer- 
tain Captain  Scott,  and  his  friends  Wilson  and  Bowers, 
left  behind  to  die  composing  a  story  that  would  never  die. 

He  turned  back  to  the  doctor  and  dropped  into  the 
chair  facing  him. 

"  Alleyne,  it's  this  way.  If  I  have  the  operation,  my 
wife  will  find  out.  She  thinks  now  that  I  have  indigestion. 
She  wants  to  go  to  the  war,  and  I  want  her  to  go.  She 
must  not  know  what  is  the  matter  with  me  if  I  live.  So 
unless  you  will  guarantee  to  finish  me  I  won't  have  the 
operation." 

They  looked  at  each  other,  and  the  doctor  put  this 
story  among  the  small  collection  of  things  he  liked  to 
think  about  when  he  got  despairful  of  the  human  race. 

"  Barrington,  I  might  agree  that  your  life  is  in  }rour 
own  hands,  but  it  isn't  in  mine.  I  couldn't  do  it  yet,  not 
with  as  much  left  to  you  as  I  think  there  is.  If  it  came 
to  the  last  weeks  and  one  could  be  pretty  certain  there 
was  nothing  left  but  pain — well,  I  won't  say.  But  you 
are  asking  too  much  of  me  now." 

Dane  stood  up.  "  All  right.  Then  I  won't  have  it. 
I  can  stick  it  out  for  a  while — I  hear  you  are  going  to 
the  front,  Doctor?" 

The  surgeon  looked  up  at  him.  "iYes,  I  go  in  about 
two  weeks." 

"  As  soon  as  that?  I  wish  I  could  have  gone  and  ended 
it  that  way.  I'm  going  to  stay  here  two  or  three  days  to 
fix  up  some  business.  If  you  have  time  to  dine " 

"  I  shall  make  time  with  pleasure." 


THE  STRANGE  ATTRACTION  363 


Valerie  felt  chilled  when  she  read  the  note  Dane  had 
slipped  under  her  door  before  leaving  for  Auckland.  This 
erratic  behaviour  seemed  so  unnecessary.  If  he  had  had 
to  go  to  town  suddenly  about  a  change  in  investments 
why  had  he  not  told  her  the  day  before?  There  was 
nothing  disturbing  about  his  having  to  go.  But  there 
was  about  the  way  he  had  done  it.  He  was  really  carry- 
ing her  own  theories  of  independence  much  further  than 
she  carried  them  herself.  And  it  seemed  unfriendly. 

She  tried  to  console  herself  with  thoughts  of  the  day 
before,  of  the  high  mood  he  had  been  in,  and  of  the  fact 
that  he  really  seemed  better  than  she  had  seen  him  for 
some  time.  But  something  puzzled  her.  He  had  looked 
at  her  at  times  in  such  a  curious  way. 

She  tried  to  work  that  morning.  She  had  put  her 
novel  aside,  and  was  working  dis j ointedly,  jotting  down  in 
a  note-book  things  she  felt  from  day  to  day,  her  feelings 
about  the  war,  stories  of  men  going  away,  of  women  left 
behind,  even  some  of  her  feeling  about  Dane.  It  did  not 
satisfy  her.  It  was  at  best  something  to  pass  the  time. 
She  was  really  frantic  for  action.  She  could  picture  her- 
self leading  groups  of  women,  doing  heroic  things,  work- 
ing as  few  people  could  work.  And  here  she  was  in  a 
pampered  garden,  waited  on  by  servants,  her  heaviest  task 
the  making  of  her  own  bed.  She  made  up  her  mind  the 
second  day  of  Dane's  absence  that  when  he  came  back 
she  would  join  Mrs.  Benton  in  the  organizing  of  the 
women  of  Dargaville;  anything  now  but  this  sitting 
around. 

On  the  third  day  she  got  a  letter  from  Dane,  affection- 
ate and  humorous,  telling  her  the  latest  news,  and  on  the 


364  THE  STRANGE  ATTRACTION 

next  she  received  one  saying  he  would  be  delayed  a  few 
days  longer.  Then  the  temptation  came  to  her  to  go 
while  he  was  away.  In  spite  of  her  attempts  to  put  it  out 
of  mind  the  idea  obsessed  her,  but  always  when  it  came  to 
standing  in  her  room  and  visualizing  the  packing  process 
she  could  get  no  farther. 

One  morning  it  came  over  her  more  clearly  than  ever 
how  strange  her  life  with  him  had  been.  She  had  never 
really  belonged  there.  She  was  like  a  person  passing  by. 
She  had  had  that  feeling  often.  The  place  was  in  no 
sense  hers.  She  had  never  asked  a  person  to  it.  She  did 
not  feel  that  even  in  Dane's  absence  she  could  have  asked 
Mrs.  Benton  to  come  to  tea,  or  to  stay  the  night.  It  was 
completely  his  place,  and  even  when  he  was  away  his  spirit 
seemed  to  hover  over  it.  His  personality  dominated  it. 
And  she  had  left  no  mark  on  it  save  the  flower-beds. 
Perhaps  that  was  one  reason  why  she  wanted  to  go.  And 
yet  she  had  been  so  happy  here.  She  wondered  if  she 
would  ever  be  as  happy  anywhere  else. 

She  gardened,  she  rode,  she  walked,  she  played,  she  tried 
to  write.  She  tried  not  to  think.  She  tried  to  see  some 
glory  still  ahead  in  the  future  for  her  and  Dane. 

And  then  she  got  the  letter. 

"  Dear  Valerie :  I  think  you  will  understand  what  I 
am  going  to  say.  You  and  I  went  through  a  conventional 
ceremon}'  three  years  ago  that  seemed  absurd  to  us  be- 
cause it  made  impossible  demands  upon  us,  and  so  we 
made  a  ceremony  of  our  own  that  we  did  mean  to  live  up 
to.  I  don't  know  what  you  said  in  yours,  but  I  can  guess 
a  little.  But  the  thing  I'm  remembering  now  is  what  I  said 
in  mine.  I  wanted  a  little  of  your  life,  a  little  of  your 
youth  and  love.  There  were  times  when  I  thought  I  had 
no  right  to  it,  and  then  I  felt  I  had  a  right  if  you  cared 


THE  STRANGE  ATTRACTION  365 

enough,  and  if  I  was  prepared  to  live  up  to  my  contract 
with  you. 

"  Now,  my  dear,  you  have  given  me  three  years  of  your 
life,  of  your  youth  and  love,  and  with  them  you  have  given 
me  more  than  I  ever  dreamed  you  could.  You  have  given 
me  more  than  any  woman  ever  gave  me.  You  have  done 
for  me  the  greatest  thing  one  person  can  do  for  another 
— you  have  justified  my  continued  existence  to  myself. 

"  I  have  always  known  that  some  time  there  would  be  a 
descent  from  the  mountain  top.  I  have  not  unhappily 
anticipated  it.  I  have  been  content  with  what  the  days 
brought.  And  as  long  as  you  were  happy  the  garden  was 
fair.  But  }7ou  have  not  been  happy  lately.  You  have 
been  very  fine  about  it.  You  have  tried  to  keep  it  from 
me.  But  I  know  it  now,  and  I  cannot  be  happy  in  my 
old  place  any  longer  with  you  unsatisfied  there.  One 
side  of  you  is  being  starved,  and  I  will  not  have  it  go  on. 
You  want  to  go,  and  because  you  do  I  want  you  to,  I  in- 
sist that  you  do.  And  I  cannot  face  thinking  about  it, 
arguing  about  it.  I'm  not  going  to  let  my  health  inter- 
fere. My  mind  is  made  up  about  that.  And  it  would 
have  come  just  the  same  if  there  had  been  no  war.  In  the 
end  you  would  have  had  to  go. 

"  And  Valerie  dear,  you  will  go  now  while  we  still  love 
each  other.  You  will  go  because  we  love  each  other.  I 
will  not  have  our  three  years  spoiled  by  any  silly  ideas 
about  sacrifice.  Our  three  years  shall  end  with  that  night 
last  week.  I  shall  keep  the  picture  of  you  as  you  stood 
in  my  den  with  me  after  dinner,  and  as  you  sat  at  the 
piano.  And  you  shall  keep  some  picture  you  had  of  me 
that  night.  I  insist  that  the  dust  of  lingering  farewells 
be  not  allowed  to  settle  on  them. 

"  Now,  old  girl,  I  cannot  command  you,  but  I  beg  you 
to  carry  out  the  spirit  of  this  letter.  I  am  getting  out 


366  THE  STRANGE  ATTRACTION 

of  Auckland  to-morrow  for  a  week,  and  I  wish  to  come 
home  at  the  end  of  that  time.  Will  you  please  be  gone 
by  then?  You  see  I  am  turning  you  out,  turning  you  out 
because  you  won't  go  of  your  own  accord.  And  I  know 
why  you  won't  go.  It  is  very  wonderful  of  you,  but  you 
must  go  now,  please.  And  I  am  a  coward.  I  cannot  stand 
in  my  garden  and  see  you  go  out  of  it.  So  you  must  go 
before  I  come  back. 

"  I  have  had  a  long  talk  with  your  father.  He  under- 
stands my  action  thoroughly.  He  will  ask  you  no  ques- 
tions. The  war  will  blanket  your  going  away.  So  many 
are  going  now.  I  have  left  money  with  him  for  you,  and 
later  when  you  need  more  you  shall  have  it.  Of  course, 
dear,  I'm  not  regarding  this  as  the  end  of  everything. 
Please  understand  that.  It  is  merely  a  change.  Of  course 
we  shall  write  to  each  other.  I  want  to  hear  from  you 
before  you  leave  Auckland.  But  please,  please,  do  not 
think  it  necessary  to  leave  any  letter  for  me  in  the  house. 
Please,  don't,  Val 

"  Dear  old  girl,  I  write  all  this  because  I  am  sure  you 
will  understand.  Ever  since  I  met  you  I  have  been,  and 
for  the  rest  of  my  life  I  shall  be  yours.  And  for  a  time  at 
least  you  have  been  mine,  perhaps  as  much  as  you  will 
ever  be  anybody's.  I'm  not  afraid  that  you  will  forget 
me.  Perhaps  you  will  remember  too  well. 

"  I'm  rambling  on — it  is  hard  to  end  this. 

"  I'm  not  going  to  say  good-bye. 

"  Just  good-night — dear  Valerie.     Dane. 

"  P.  S.  Please  don't  turn  me  into  a  ghost.  I  should 
be  the  most  uneasy  spirit  you  have  ever  known.  But  if 
you  do,  let  me  have  a  cemetery  all  to  myself.  I  insist  on 
it.  I  will  not  be  put  with  the  relatives." 


THE  STRANGE  ATTRACTION  367 

VI 

Valerie  read  it  in  the  middle  of  a  lovely  summer  after- 
noon after  she  returned  from  Dargaville,  and  it  blotted 
out  the  sun  for  her  and  turned  the  day  to  blank  despair. 
She  stumbled  through  it  twice,  and  though  her  eyes  ap- 
peared to  move  she  did  not  see  the  flower-beds,  or  the 
oleander  bushes,  or  the  magnolia  tree.  She  sat  as  if  para- 
lyzed in  every  limb  and  in  her  mind  as  well.  When  Lee 
brought  out  her  dinner  she  stared  strangely  at  the  boy  as 
if  he  were  a  phenomenon.  She  tried  to  eat,  but  her  throat 
seemed  to  be  swollen  shut. 

As  she  paced  the  garden  afterwards  the  opposing 
statements  "  I  must  go,"  "  I  cannot  go  "  began  a  tor- 
menting fire  back  and  forth  in  her  mind.  But  apart  from 
that  she  could  not  think  that  night.  She  could  only  feel 
that  she  was  one  hard  pain  from  head  to  foot.  And  she 
did  not  know  why  she  was  suffering  so  much  about  it. 
Here  it  was,  her  freedom  to  go.  The  one  thing  she 
thought  she  most  wanted.  And  it  meant  nothing  but 
pain  to  think  of  it.  She  slept  at  last  and  woke  to  wonder 
what  had  happened  to  her.  Then  she  remembered  the 
letter.  She  got  out  of  her  cot,  clambered  through  her 
window,  and  took  it  out  of  the  box  on  her  dressing-table, 
and  sat  down  in  her  nightgown  to  read  it  again.  And 
now  she  perceived  the  strength  of  it,  the  finality  of  it,  the 
something  between  the  lines.  There  was  something  she  did 
not  know.  Should  she  try  to  find  it  out  or  leave  it? 
There  was  a  desperate  appeal  in  the  letter.  What  was 
it  he  knew  that  she  did  not?  The  conviction  came  to  her 
that  whatever  it  was  he  did  not  think  her  equal  to  the 
knowledge.  Or  was  it  that  he  wanted  to  save  her?  In 
either  case  she  felt  she  was  failing  him.  That  was  a 
terrible  thought  on  which  to  begin  the  day. 


368  THE  STRANGE  ATTRACTION 

Then  the  postscript  arrested  her.  She  had  not  taken 
it  in  the  night  before.  That  humorous  protest  coming  at 
the  end  of  the  rest  of  it  astonished  her.  But  he  need  have 
no  fear,  she  told  herself.  She  did  not  make  the  ghosts. 
They  made  themselves.  And  he  had  done  the  one  thing 
that  would  keep  him  alive  forever.  She  had  a  presentiment 
that  henceforth  all  men  who  came  into  her  life  would  have 
to  stand  or  fall  in  comparison  with  him,  that  perhaps  no 
man  would  ever  again  be  seen  by  her  for  himself  alone, 
but  be  merely  a  substitute.  She  might,  indeed,  remember 
him  too  well. 

Then  she  saw  that  she  was  really  thinking  about  going, 
that  in  spite  of  what  he  had  said  she  was  seeing  the  end 
of  things  as  they  had  been.  All  the  morning  she  walked 
about  the  garden  unable  to  make  a  move.  She  looked 
about  the  beautiful  old  place,  hearing  the  birds  and  the 
bees.  Oh,  no,  she  wasn't  going  away  from  here.  It  was 
absurd.  She  began  to  think  of  his  coming  back  to  it 
alone.  She  could  see  him  coming  along  the  path  from 
the  boathouse  steps,  to  the  verandah,  listening  for  her — 
no,  no,  she  must  not  think  of  it.  She  had  to  go,  at  tKe 
back  of  her  mind  she  knew  that,  even  though  she  went  on 
all  day  protesting  against  the  idea  of  it.  And  she  pro- 
tested against  it  all  through  a  second  day,  making  no 
attempt  to  pack. 

She  read  his  letter  every  day,  and  every  day  it  seemed 
to  be  a  greater  thing,  more  heroic,  more  uncannily  right. 
But  every  day  the  fact  that  they  could  not  go  on  to- 
gether seemed  more  hopelessly  stupid  and  wrong. 

On  the  third  day  she  was  surprised  to  read  in  an  Auck- 
land paper  an  article  by  him  written  to  calm  the  feelings 
of  people  wrought  up  by  recent  alarms.  It  was  a  moving 
piece  of  work.  It  called  to  mind  the  picture  of  courage 
and  endurance  that  Captain  Scott  and  his  companions 


THE  STRANGE  ATTRACTION  369 

had  given  to  the  world.  There  was  nothing  in  it  to  show 
that  the  man  who  wrote  it  was  sitting  in  the  midst  of  the 
ruin  of  his  own  hopes.  Valerie  wondered  why  she  was 
amazed  that  he  could  write  it  at  that  time.  Then  she 
remembered  that  she  could  still  play  the  piano. 

That  night  she  played  for  the  first  time  since  she  had 
received  his  letter,  and  found  that  she  could  forget  him. 
When  she  had  played  for  a  little  over  an  hour  she  jumped 
from  the  keyboard  electrified.  She  thought  she  had  heard 
her  name  called.  She  was  sure  she  had  heard  it  called. 
It  was  a  still  warm  night.  There  were  no  confusing  sounds 
to  deceive  her.  She  stood  rooted  to  the  study  floor,  but 
she  heard  nothing  more.  She  told  herself  she  must  not 
let  her  nerves  play  tricks  on  her.  But  she  was  afraid  to 
go  out  of  the  room,  afraid  to  look  round,  what  of,  she  did 
not  know.  It  was  some  time  before  she  convinced  herself 
there  had  been  no  call. 

She  went  into  her  own  study  and  sat  down.  What  if 
Dane  were  back  watching  her?  She  had  never  known  in 
his  absences  whether  he  were  really  away  from  the  house 
or  not.  Supposing  he  had  come  back  to  try  to  keep  her 
after  all.  Then  she  saw  how  much  in  those  three  days 
her  mind  had  turned  towards  going,  and  the  thought  that 
he  might  come,  that  there  might  be  a  tragic  scene  or  a 
battle  of  wills,  tormented  her.  Her  nerves  got  into  a  fer- 
ment. The  thought  that  he  was  there  grew  upon  her.  But 
she  could  not  bring  herself  to  go  through  the  house  and 
see. 

She  had  had  the  boys  that  afternoon  bring  her  trunks 
and  boxes  from  a  room  at  the  stables  where  they  had 
been  kept.  They  were  now  on  her  front  verandah.  The 
idea  came  to  her  to  get  away  the  next  day.  She  could  not 
stay  another  night  in  this  place  with  the  thought  that 
Dane  was  watching  her.  She  closed  her  window,  drew  the 


370  THE  STRANGE  ATTRACTION 

blind,  and  began  feverishly  to  prepare  things  to  go  into 
her  boxes.  She  packed  most  of  the  night.  It  was  a 
horrible  business,  and  her  lips  bled  from  the  setting  of 
her  teeth  into  them.  She  could  not  take  her  own  furni- 
ture, and  yet  she  felt  she  should  leave  as  few  reminders 
of  herself  as  possible.  The  things  one  left  behind  were  al- 
ways so  terribly  pathetic.  And  yet  if  she  left  her  furni- 
ture and  her  books  it  might  give  him  the  idea  that  she 
would  come  back.  That  might  be  a  comfort.  And  she 
could  not  take  those  things  with  her  out  of  New  Zealand. 
Finally  she  packed  only  her  clothes,  and  of  the  things  he 
had  given  her,  took  only  a  little  jewellery  and  the  Lindsay 
drawing  of  his  head. 

The  first  thing  in  the  morning  she  sent  Lee  into  Darga- 
ville  to  arrange  for  a  carter  to  come  that  afternoon  after 
the  steamer  had  arrived  so  that  her  things  could  be  put 
directly  on  board.  She  meant  to  get  away  without  seeing 
a  soul,  or  having  anyone  in  the  town  know.  They  might 
be  hurt  afterwards,  but  she  could  not  help  it.  She  went 
through  the  day  as  if  she  were  in  a  dream.  It  took  her 
most  of  it  to  pack,  and  she  was  only  just  ready  for  the 
carter  when  he  came. 

The  boys  had  not  shown  the  least  surprise  at  her  orders 
or  at  her  strange  behaviour.  She  had  been  on  the  point 
that  morning  of  asking  Lee  whether  his  master  were  home, 
but  she  decided  not.  It  would  have  been  worse  to  know  he 
was  than  merely  to  fear  it.  After  the  carter  had  left  she 
had  Lee  make  her  some  sandwiches,  and  then  told  him  she 
would  not  be  there  to  dinner,  and  that  she  was  going  to 
town  to  join  Dane. 

"  Yes,  Meesis  Harrington,"  he  said,  and  she  learned 
nothing  from  his  tone. 

She  could  not  bring  herself  to  take  a  last  walk  about 
the  old  garden.  She  had  no  need  to  assist  her  memory 


THE  STRANGE  ATTRACTION  371 

with  any  last  walk.  She  would  never  forget  that  garden, 
or  any  corner  of  it.  And  once  she  had  put  her  rooms 
straight  after  her  trunks  had  gone  she  was  frantic  to  get 
away  from  it,  and  come  to  some  peace  of  mind,  if  she  ever 
would  again. 

It  was  with  dry  eyes,  but  with  a  heart  of  lead,  that  she 
walked  out  in  the  early  evening,  trying  not  to  think  of 
the  glorious  day  when  she  had  first  walked  in. 

She  did  not  go  straight  into  the  town.  She  went  round 
the  back  of  it  out  on  the  flat  to  the  coast  road,  and  by  a 
track  she  knew  well  to  the  cliffs.  There  in  the  dusk  she 
managed  to  eat  a  sandwich,  and  there  she  stayed  soothed 
till  late  at  night.  Then  she  went  back  to  the  town,  and 
to  the  steamer,  and  astonished  the  steward  at  midnight  by 
demanding  the  whole  of  the  small  ladies'  cabin  of  four 
berths  all  to  herself  for  the  trip  the  next  day.  She  got 
it  because  she  paid  for  it.  And  there  she  stayed  alone 
till  the  little  steamer  chugged  into  Helensville.  She  re- 
vived a  little  in  the  train,  and  looked  at  things  out  of  the 
window  as  if  she  knew  them  for  what  they  were. 

She  had  not  told  her  father  she  was  coming.  She  had 
sent  no  word  to  anyone.  She  wanted  to  land  in  the  city 
alone,  to  go  to  a  hotel  alone,  to  stay  alone  for  a  day  or 
two,  till  the  life  and  movement  about  her  should  help  her 
to  put  out  of  mind  the  picture  that  haunted  her,  the  pic- 
ture of  Dane  in  the  garden  alone.  But  even  before  she 
reached  the  first  suburban  station  the  sense  of  forward 
movement  began  to  stir  within  her,  a  vague  exciting  sense 
of  the  adventure  that  might  come  with  a  to-morrow,  and 
she  saw  that  already  she  was  beginning  again. 

VII 

Dane  wrote  the  letter  to  Valerie  the  night  he   dined 


372  THE  STRANGE  ATTRACTION 

with  Dr.  Alleyne.  The  two  men  had  had  a  great  talk, 
somewhat  coloured  by  presentiment.  They  knew  at  least 
that  they  would  never  meet  again,  but  neither  guessed  that 
the  man  who  had  just  pronounced  the  sentence  of  death  on 
the  other  would  himself  go  first. 

Dane  walked  afterwards  to  his  hotel.  He  thought  it 
strange  he  should  be  feeling  so  cynically  indifferent  to  his 
limited  future,  and  also  that  he  should  be  feeling  fairly 
well.  He  had  these  respites  in  which  he  recovered  his 
nerve. 

He  had,  after  several  conferences,  finally  told  Daven- 
port Carr  that  day  the  real  reason  why  he  wished  Valerie 
to  get  away  at  once,  to  get  off  to  Egypt,  London,  any- 
where. As  he  walked  to  his  hotel  he  saw  his  father-in-law 
as  he  had  left  him,  standing  speechless  in  the  middle  of 
his  comfortable  office.  And  for  a  minute  he  rather  pitied 
Davenport  Carr. 

When  he  got  into  his  room  he  knew  he  would  never  be 
in  a  better  frame  of  mind  to  take  the  step  he  had  rather 
dreaded  for  days,  the  irrevocable  step  of  writing  to  Va- 
lerie. The  talk  with  the  doctor  had  keyed  him  up.  So 
he  sat  down  and  began  steadily  enough.  But  he  wobbled 
towards  the  end,  his  head  dropped  on  his  hands,  and  it 
took  him  over  an  hour  to  pen  the  last  few  lines.  Then 
his  head  went  down  again,  and  stayed  still  for  some  time. 
Then  he  took  up  the  letter  and  looked  at  it.  He  was  not 
trying  to  read  it  through.  He  was  hoping  it  would  not 
hurt  Valerie  too  much.  Then  an  imp  whispered  in  his  ear, 
and  he  added  the  postscript.  With  a  spurt  of  decision  he 
sealed  the  envelope  and  stamped  it,  and  took  it  out  to  the 
hotel  letter  box,  afraid  to  leave  it  with  himself  till  the 
morning. 

He  went  to  bed  feeling  it  did  not  matter  whether  he  slept 
or  not.  But  the  fates  were  kind  that  night.  He  slept 


THE  STRANGE  ATTRACTION  373 

till  well  on  in  the  next  morning.  But  the  force  of  what 
he  had  done  came  over  him  as  he  dressed.  And  lie  be- 
came a  lost  child,  with  no  idea  what  to  do  with  himself 
that  week.  With  a  small  bag  he  wandered  into  the  Auck- 
land station  and  took  the  first  train  out,  without  knowing 
where  it  was  going.  He  was  exceedingly  hurt  by  the 
surly  manner  of  the  guard  who  thought  him  drunk  be- 
cause he  had  not  got  a  ticket,  did  not  know  where  the 
train  was  going,  and  could  not  say  where  he  wanted  to 
get  off.  He  paid  his  fine  and  the  fare  for  the  whole  dis- 
tance to  Wellington,  though  he  had  no  intention  of  going 
there.  He  found  he  was  on  a  train  that  was  carrying 
officers  and  men  to  the  Trentham  camp.  For  a  while  he 
was  a  little  distracted  by  their  talk  of  the  war,  their  spec- 
ulation as  to  what  was  going  to  happen  to  themselves. 

"  Dear  me,  we're  all  lost,"  he  thought. 

Later  in  the  day  he  got  off  at  Hamilton  in  the  Waikato. 
He  had  never  been  in  Hamilton,  and  had  never  wanted  to 
be  in  it,  though  it  was  a  pretty  little  town,  but  he  could 
not  sit  in  the  train  another  moment.  After  some  enquiries 
he  found  an  elderly  man  with  a  motor  car  who  was  at 
liberty  to  drive  him  anywhere  he  chose  to  go.  The  elderly 
man  thought  it  strange  that  he  had  to  think  for  some  time 
before  he  decided  on  his  destination,  and  wondered  if  he 
were  in  the  secret  service.  Finally  Dane  said  Rotorua, 
and  paid  him  in  advance,  or  his  driver  would  have  hesi- 
tated at  setting  out  with  so  desperate-eyed  a  customer. 

It  occurred  to  Dane  the  next  night,  as  he  bathed  the 
dust  of  his  long  drive  off  his  weary  body,  that  he  had 
come  in  the  wrong  direction,  that  he  would  have  to  pass 
through  Auckland  in  order  to  get  home,  and  he  must  not 
do  that  after  Valerie  had  come  there.  He  was  now  mor- 
bidly afraid  of  meeting  her.  He  was  trying  to  blot  her 
out  of  his  consciousness.  What  a  fool  he  had  been  to 


374  THE  STRANGE  ATTRACTION 

start  SOuth.  He  should  have  gone  north.  The  next 
morning  he  took  the  train  back  to  Auckland,  and  was 
almost  afraid  to  walk  out  of  it,  lest  she  should  be  at  the 
station.  He  Hurried  into  the  nearest  hotel,  and  found 
that  a  feat  was  leaving  that  night  for  Whangarei.  He 
had  some  food  seat  up  to  his  room  where  he  stayed  till 
it  was  time  to  go  aboard.  He  talked  to  the  first  officer 
at  the  wheel  till  two  in  the  morning.  At  Whangarei  he 
took  the  boat  train  to  Kawakawa,  not  that  he  wanted  to 
see  Kawakawa  again,  nobody  would,  but  he  had  this  ter- 
rible craving  to  keep  moving,  to  keep  a  constant  succession 
of  objects  passing  before  his  eyes  so  that  he  might  not  see 
Valerie's  face.  He  was  so  afraid  he  would  be  drawn  back 
to  the  mission  station  before  she  left,  so  afraid  he  would 
lose  his  nerve  and  go  to  beg  her  to  stay. 

At  Kawakawa  he  hired  a  horse  and  buggy  and  started 
to  drive  towards  Hokianga.  But  that  night,  in  a  little 
pub  he  met  two  men  from  the  Far  North  on  their  way  to 
enlist,  and  he  and  they  drank  themselves  into  forgetfulness 
of  all  the  things  that  trouble  man.  In  the  morning  they 
had  gone  on,  and  he  was  left  to  lie  ill  and  wretched  for 
three  days,  nursed  by  the  fat  wife  of  the  pub  owner,  who 
bestowed  the  tenderness  of  a  kind  and  sentimental  heart 
upon  this  strange  man  who  seemed  to  have  lost  his  hold 
upon  the  earth.  . 

Coming  finally  to  his  miserable  self,  Dane  saw  that  it 
was  more  than  a  week  since  he  had  written  to  Valerie.  He 
sent  an  enigmatical  telegram  to  Doctor  Steele,  and  the 
answer  came  back  in  one  word  "  Gone." 

Dane  drove  back  to  Kawakawa,  took  the  train  to 
Whangarei,  was  driven  to  Tangiteroria,  and  took  the  little 
black  steamer  down  the  Wairoa  to  Dargaville.  It  was 
nine  o'clock  in  the  evening  when  he  arrived  there.  He 
went  at  once  to  his  launch  and  turned  her  homewards. 


THE  STRANGE  ATTRACTION  375 

His  little  bay  was  still  and  warm  under  the  summer 
stars.  His  trees  shadowed  the  rocks.  He  was  conscious 
of  the  peace  of  it  all.  But  as  he  stepped  from  the  path 
through  the  trees  into  the  open  spaces  of  his  garden  his 
eyes  lit  on  a  bed  of  stocks,  and  the  thing  he  dreaded,  the 
remembrance  that  something  was  gone  from  this  forever, 
struck  him  with  the  force  of  a  blow.  But  he  went  on. 
His  dogs  bounded  round  the  house  barking  joyously.  A 
door  opened  and  Lee  looked  out,  and  hurried  in  again  to 
light  lamps  and  to  prepare  something  to  eat. 

Dane  dropped  into  his  hammock  and  lay  still.  He  did 
not  rouse  himself  till  after  eleven.  Then  his  mind  cleared 
for  a  little,  and  he  told  himself  to  go  and  face  it.  He 
knew  perfectly  well  that  she  was  gone.  But  he  knew  he 
would  have  no  peace  till  he  did  the  thing  he  shirked  doing. 
He  went  into  his  study  and  looked  at  the  piano.  Yes,  her 
music  was  gone.  He  went  on  to  her  front  room.  From 
the  force  of  habit  he  almost  knocked  on  the  door.  Inside 
he  stood  staggered  a  moment  at  the  sight  of  her  books, 
her  furniture.  Then  a  piteous  smile  twisted  his  face. 
Those  things  hurt  too  much.  He  staggered  back  into  his 
library.  He  stumbled  against  one  of  his  little  red  tables. 
Something  snapped  in  his  brain.  He  kicked  at  it,  and  it 
overturned,  and  the  bronze  things  on  it  scattered  on  the 
floor  with  a  harsh  sound  that  clanged  through  the  house. 
In  a  frenzy  he  seized  the  table  by  the  legs  and  dashed  it 
down  again.  Then  he  stumbled  into  his  den  and  to  the 
cabinet  where  he  kept  morphia. 

The  temptation  came  to  end  it  all  there  and  then,  but 
he  remembered  even  in  that  black  moment  that  done  that 
way  it  wouJd  reflect  on  Valerie,  haunt  her  going  away. 
He  took  merely  enough  to  blot  out  the  world  for  the  night. 
Then  he  stumbled  back  to  his  hammock. 

As  he  got  into  it  the  boys,  who  had  been  startled  by 


376  THE  STRANGE  ATTRACTION 

the  crash,  came  cautiously  into  the  study.  San  stopped 
to  gather  up  the  things  that  had  scattered  over  the  floor. 
Lee  looked  out  at  the  hammock,  and  took  up  a  possum 
rug  and  laid  it  over  Dane's  feet.  Then  he  closed  the  door, 
and  put  out  the  lamps  within. 

And  a  late  moon  coming  up  at  the  end  of  the  cutting 
cast  a  streak  across  the  white  and  tired  face  of  the  man 
who  had  ceased  to  care  for  the  present  whether  she  ever 
rose  again  or  not. 


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